Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-02-08
CHATTER Y.-THE DOCUMENT.


though it seemed to have been carefully
used (the leaves being neatly stitched to
gether and protected by a canvas cover, |
had suffered much from wear and tear, the |
rust of the original tin case, and the fire. |
oucnt thumbin.gs of it's two readers. The |
ink was faded, the handwriting small and |
grabbed; the lines were, moreover, so very |
close together that | found the perusal, or. |
more correctly, the study of the manuscript |
by no means easy. Parts of it, in fact. |
were quite illegible. ] had often to infer |
the meaning OF the writer from the con-
text, and there were several passages
which | could not make out at all
No wonder the boatswain wanted a man
of lead and edycation" to help him. The
form of the document was that of a jour
nal, or log; but it was hardly possible that
it could be the work of any combatant Of
tiCer of Il warship on active service. The
style was too literary and diffuse, and, SO
to speak, too womanish and devout. The
writer, moreover. whose name. as L read
on, found to be Hare" did not write In
the least like a seaman. He could not well
have been passenger; and had not read
far before found that he was a clergyman
and naval chaplain.
The first entry in the diary was probably
written at Spithead, and ran thus
al. NJ S. 'Hecate' - 18th, 1743
Left our mOorings this day, under seal
ed orders, so as yet no man on board knows
whittier we are bound or where we are to
cruise. May God bless and prosper our
voyage, and protect the dear ones we leave
at homcI
"19th.-Been very much lndisposed the
last two days; not very surprising, consid-
ertng that this is my first voyage, and we
have had bad weather. Wind now moder-
ating, but still blowing half gale.
'20th.-The captain has opened his or
ders. The 'HeCate' is to sail with llspeed
across the Atlantic cruise about the Gulf
of Mexico, in the track of AFOREMENTIONED
Spanish merchantmen, and keep sharp
lookout for treasure-ships. Officers and
ships company highly delighted with the
prospect thus opened out of prize-money
and hard fighting, these treasure-shipS be-
ing always either heavily armed or under
convoy, or both. To do the 'EIecate' JUS
tice, believe the prospect of hard knocks
affords them more pleasure than the hope
of reward; and though we carry only forty
guns there is not a SailO I on board who is
not confident that we are match for any
two Spanish frigates afioat. Our British
tars veritable bulldogs. and albeit
Captait Barnaby does sometimes indulge
in prOfane swearing the Royal Navy pos
seSSes not a better man nor a Drawer OIL
GER"
Next followed a series Of unimportaat
entries, such as
Church parade and divine service.
ain the SiCk-bay, reading the Bible to
Bill Thompson, A. B., who fell yesterday
from one of the yard-arms, and lies a-dy-
ing. poor fellow.
"Dined with the captain, the second huff,
and two of the young gentlemen.
This day Il fl yiug-tish came through my
port-hole. One of the ships bows caught
him. and the cook made an excellent dish
of for. no
| shame to kill the creature who sought
our hospitality and protection, for he was
doubtless escaping from some enemy OF the
| sea or the air"
| And so on-and so on. All this did not
| occupy much space, yet, owing to the rev
erend gentlcman's grabbed fist, the faded
ink, and the thumb-marks of the two
| Bolsovers it took long to read; and in or
der not to miss anything, l had made up
! my mind to read every word that it was
| possible to decipher.
At length my patience and perseverance
received their reward. The diary became
| gradually less tedious and monotonous.
| There was a storm in which the 'Hecate"
| suffered some damage, and the diarist
! (who does not seem to have been particu-
larry courageous) underwent considerable
anxiety and discomfort; and a man fell
]
! to rescue him, was drowned. Then the
! "HeCate' ChaSes a vessel which Captain
| Barnaby suspects to be a French privateer;
! but remembering how imperative are his
! orders TO make with all speed his cruising
! ground he resumes his course after fol-
| lowing her few hours For the same
reason he shows 4 clean pair of heels to a
| French frigate, greatly to the disgust OF
| his crew, for though she is of superior size
| they are quite sure they could have bested
! her The chaplaiu. on the other hand,
warmly cOmmends the captains prudence
/ observing that discretion IN a commander
is to the fun as essential as valor."
| The region of the gulf reached, every
| body is on the watch. There is always q
| lookout at the masthead. the officers are
! continually sweeping the horizon with
! their glasses, and the men are exercised
daily at quarters; for Captain Barnaby,
| with all his prudence, appears TO have been
! a strict discjpunarian. Being of opinion
that he will the better attain his object by
| remaining outside the Gulf of Mexico than
by going inside, he cruises several weeks
in the ueighborhood of the Bahamas.
| With little success, however; he captures
| only two or three vessels of light tonnage
and small value, which he takes TO Mas
sau. in New Providence.
"Ill-satisfied with this poor result, Barn
ably resolves to take q turn III the gulf
and. if he does no good there. to make 8
dash south, in the hope that he may per-
chauce encounter some homeward-bound
galieon from Chilli or Peru. So passing
through the Straits of Florida, he runs
along the northern shores of Cuba, doubles
Cape San Antonio, revictualS at Kingston,
In jamaica and re-enterS the South At
lanrjc between Trinidad and Tobago.
A fortunate move was this in one sense.
though, so far as the poor chaplain and .
considerable part of the ships company
were concerned, it resulted in dire misfor-
tune.
To he confirmed.