St. Paul daily globe., 1889-05-26

foretOpmast and big tangle of ropes"
was the reply. ut looks to me as IL all
the foremast rattle had somehow slowed
around under her bows, and am GER
tain that whale Is tangled up therein.
| can see flecks of foam as he churns
away, and you can hear ripple along
our side from the sea he kicks up"
The dog barked and hOWled by turns,
but we got no other answer to our re-
peated shouts.
'Men," said the captain, as the wreck
began moving slowly away, otis our
plain duty to board that hulk. l could
never forgive myself if left any one
to die of starvation. won't order any
one to go, but I'll call for volunteers"
Not sailor responded for minute.
waited to give the men chance, and
as they heSitated volunteered. Two
other men came forward, and their ac-
tiOn shamed the mate into saying:
"Very well, sir: I'll take Jones and
Harris and pull off and investigate"
Why he left me out do not know,
but | was quietly ignored, and the two
middle-aged men whose names l have
given had the oars as the boat moved
away. The captain called after the
mate to be sure to board the hulk, and
if he found her in good condition to cut
the rattle loose and report. The wreck
had been moving away from us pretty
yawl left us could hardly make
her out. The mate was to show
a light when he boarded her. and for
the next half hour we were straining
our eyes to catch it. Then we figured
that he had missed the hulk and was
pulling back to us. and although we had
out our regular lights, which could have
been seen for two or three miles, we
sent up several skyrOcketS and burned a
flare as further guides. But the hours
wore on and brought no further tidings,
and when daylight came we swept the
sea in vain for sight Of either hulk or
boat.
"A breeze came with the sun, and we
began search which lasted all day
without result. The loss of three men
reduced us to sad straits. There were
only two working hands, and. as a
matter Of safety, we had to get the big
sails reefed against what might come.
The breeze was light, and as we were
under shortened sail we did not cover
any great distance during the day
not over thirty miles. This salts
fed us, however, that calamity
had occurred. The wreck could not
have been over half a mile from us
when the yawl pulled away. 1t would
not take over ten minutes to pull to
her. What could have happened to the
boat? If not able to board she should
have returned. In boarding she should
have displayed light, as ordered, and
then returned to report the state of the
wreck. The last ever seen of the three
men was when they pulled away from
us. Not a word has been heard from
them to this day, nor will it ever be
known how they perished.
Night brought a calm again, and I
was so tagged out with the heavy work
before had finished the cold bite too
from the pantry. We understood from
the captain that he should cruise about
for day or two more, in the hopes of
falling in with the boat, but it was easy
to see that he was badly upset, and in
the afternoon l smelled liquor about
him strong. When he told us to go
into the pantry to forage for something
to eat his voice was thick and his legs
weak. My mate was to stand watch the
regular time and then awaken me. Some
time in the night was aroused by
something and sat up and looked about
me. The calm continued, and every
thing was quiet, and so lay down and
slept again. 1t was daylight when I
woke again, and after a. wash l got
some biscuit and meat from the pantry
and looked around for my mate. Not
finding him after hunt of ten minutes,
l knocked at the open cabin door. Re-
in, and five minutes later realized that
l was entirely alone aboard the Jo-s
sephine. Neither captain nor sailor
could be found, nor was there the
slightest clew to tell me how or why
they had disappeared. did not give up
until had searched every possible place
where they could have hidden away,
and then l sat down and let supersti-i
tiOn and terror take such hold of me
for half day that l liked to have gone
crazy. 1t was only by calling up all my
will power that | could prevent myself
from leaping over the rail. After sew
eral hours, however, this feeling wore
off, and 1 could view the situation with
common sense. was alone, but it was
a fiat calm, and turned into the cabin
my eyes. Then it was to find that
evening had come, and that the brig
had been. boarded by a boat from
one of the mail steamers ply
ing between the big island and New
Zealand. My explanations astonished
and astounded the men, and after had
been taken off to the steamer and given
all the details to the captain he took the
brig in tow and continued his course
for Sydney. There the story was told
and retold, but with little satisfaction to
any one. A craft was sent out in search
of the lost yawl and the hulk. but
neither could be found. The general
idea at Sidney was that the captain and
sailor both got drunk that night and
somehow got overheard, but no one
could even guess the calamity which
befell the yawl.