San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-01-16
A STRANGE SIIIPWRECK.

In the year 1860 left the island of TRIM.
dad on the English brig Duchess, bound for
Parnahyba, coast of Brazil An English
syndicate had been boring for coal oil near
that port, and with such indications Of sue
cess that we were taking up large cargo of
tight barrels to hold the stuff These barrels
had come to Trinidad as salvage from q
wreck and had been bought in by the syndi.
cate. Each barrel had hard wood bung, and
each bung was driven in place as the barrels
came aboard: | state this because these SIM
pie details had great bearing on the length
Of our voyage. Having several thousand
barrels aboard, any one of which would
have floated two men in the water, there was
no danger of the brig going to the bottom, no
matter if she started half dozen planks. 1t
was doubtless for.this reason that the captain,
whose name was Kimball, left port short two
men. Indeed, we had crew which would
have passed for shabby on any sort of craft
There were only three of US who dared rate
as able seamen, and the captain was almost
too drunk to walk when we left port
wanted to get down the coast to join a
Scotch wnaler, or | should never have be-
come one of the crew of the Duchess. She
had an un,eaworthy look from mastheads to
the water line, and things aboard we're very
slovenly. However, we got away after q
deal Of fuss and feathers, and, hauling well
out from tho coast, set our course We had
just four hours OF fair weather, and this gave
US time TO get the decks cleared Of the rattle
Then the wind suddenly veered about and
struck us head on, and we were obliged to
box the yards about While we seemed to
ha all fha -
made drift enough TO offset it, as the brig
was little better than square box at most,
and if she had any best sailing point, no one
had ever discovered it. Every time she made
a tack It took all hands to swing the yards,
and after one night Of it there was a good
deal Of growing. The captain shut himself
up for quiet drunk and the poorest man
before the mast soon sized the chief mate up
correctly. His name was Hastings, and
while he made great show of commanding
the brig, it was easy to see that he was very
much worried over the responsibility. The
second mate, whose name was Waters, made
no bones about confessing his unfitness, hav-
ing never been anything higher than mate of
a coal schooner on the English coast.
On the evening Of the second day we had
trouble A big negro who had shipped be-
mates would have knocked him down off
hand ana half killed him, but Hastings was
afraid of him, and went down to consult the
captain. That official was in a drunken
stupor, and could not be aroused The mate
returned to the deck and made threats, and
the result was a murder before our eyes, and
before one of us could lift hand to prevent.
The negro was the only mutineer, and all
&hnr tnf,, o. r..
dered lis to seize and bind the negro not
man would have hesitated- While he was
threatening what he would do, instead of
taking the holder cause and doing some
thing, the negro rushed in on him and in.
ficted stab which proved fatal within half
ali hour. After thus using his knife, he took
up his quarters IN the fo'castle, and swore
that he would kill any man who dared de-
scend after him. We pulled the cover over
and made him prisoner, but in a short time
we realized that we were in the fix of the
man who dare not let go Of the bear. Mono
of US had q change of clothes or could
turn in.
In this emergency Mr.. Waters took the re-
sponsibility of hauling the captain out of his
berth and trying to make him understand
the situation. The beast got back enough
sense to realize that his sacred person was
being pulled and hauled about, and he got
hold Of pistol and threatened to shoot the
next man who disturbed him In this emer-
gency we held focastle council Some were
for putting back, others for running into
Georgetown, and others for holding on until
next day and seeing how the captain would
come out. 1t was while we were engaged in
this discussion, and no one had an eye on the
weather, that an ''ox eye" struck the brig,
and brought both masts down together as if
they had been chopped off. The instincts OF
a sailor set every man at work without
orders, but tho old hull got pretty badly
banged about before we had the wreckage cut
clear and the danger averted The negro
murderer came on deck during the confusion,
but, instead Of aiding Us to save the brig, he
got the yawl into the water, put in water and
provisions, and when we were finally at
liberty 60 look about US he was ready to shove
OF. He was too quick for US, and away he
drifted into the darkness to leeward, the
yawl bouncing like cork, and seemingly
about to upset, but the fellow was as cool as
ice, and got her OFF before the seas. As t.:
mainmaSt came down a block or strap fell
upon the head of a sailor named Chester W.
could not give him any attention for half an
hour, and when we got around to it he was
dead. We were dismasted, mad two corpses
aboard, our only boat WIS Sone, and the
captain was still drunk. Sailor. Jack has