The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-09
SOME Focs.
Yarns from the Forecastle that are
Told to the Marines.

l was sitting on the STUN sails securee
OH the starboard side of the togallant
focas'le one night during our run from
Cape Horn, when the trades blew stead
lily, and the watch had nothing to do but
spin warns. We were homeward bound
from three years cruise in the orient,
and had settled down to the monotonous
life of a run up the trades. Yarn spin
ming was the principal occupation of the
men, and they let no moment that could
be filled with this pass unimproved,
their great endeavor seeming to be to
reach the height of the improbable.
Three of the most inveterate yarn
spinners of the crew were seated ON the
fo'cas'le chest, just opposite me. They
were Jack Kelley, the captain of the port
focas'le watch; Tom Hutchins, the chief
boatswain's mate, and Bill Williams, the
signal quartermaster. 1t was diamond
cut diamond with them always, when
yarns were being snapped, and knew
/ had treat in store the moment Will.
Jams said:
well, boys, we'll be on the coast in
time for the March fogs Hope they
won't be so bad as l had them once in
the gulf, when was on the blockade. in
the Tioga."
"And you had fog experience IN the
gulf, did yoa: Well. let us hear about
it" said Kelley.
sit was in June, said Williams; "we
had left Key West, bound for Mobile,
with important dispatches, so we could
not hold up for anything, and the morn
ing after we sailed the fog metus. Well,
it was SO thick that we had to have a
man with Il shovel at the pinnacle to
scoop the fog away, so that the wheels
man could see how to keep his course"
"And you call that thick fog?' said
Hutchins, with tone of contempt in his
voice. "Well, it don't compare with one
/ met coming frone the Mediterranean,
in the Brandywine, in the forties.
was an apprentice then, and it was my
first cruise, and, of course, l was anxious
to get home, SO every day | got the
reckoning. Well, we were going along
about ten knots, with the wind on the
quarter and all sail set, when, just after
meridian, we bucked up against fog.
The wind kept fair, however, and the
sails were full, so we thought nothing of
it, though we did not get sight of the
sun for five days. Itcleared off about II
in the morning, and the sailing master,
as we called the navigator then, came up
and took the noon sight, and I'll be eter-
nally smashed if we were not exactly in
the same place we were at noon five days
before. That COMPOUNDED fog was SO
thick that it had just held us fast, and
we with all sail set, and fair ten knot
breeze to help u.s."
''That was something of a fog" said
Kelley, 'and yet don't know that il
can quite come up to one that made the
acquaintance of when I was sailing in
the merchant service just before the war.
had been home, up the Kennebeck, and
they had just finished a new 3,000-ton
clipper for the New York tea trade. She
had taken in ice to carry as ballast, and
/ was asked to help take her round. We
set sail, with strong north wind blow
ing down the river, and just before we
got to the mouth we met a fog. Our
skipper was an old cruiser in that lati.
tude, however, SO he kept on. / noticed
the ship had curious sort of bobbing
motion, but the fog was SO thick you
couldn't even see the water, and as the
sails kept full, though the wind slack.
ened, and we kept going ahead, why,
didn't pay much attention to it.
"Well, we sailed along for nearly a
week, with the fog as thick as pudding,
and then all at once we gave dive and
dropped nearly fifty feet The ship
swayed and cracked, and we were all
knocked Off our feet. Luckily she was
new craft and the damp weather had
kept her rigging taut, or her masts must
have gone by the board. When she
QUOTED down and we could get on our
legs once more we looked back, and
there was thick wall of fog, that we
had tumbled from, and you can believe
it or not, just as you like, but that ship
had been sailing ON fog bank for a
week, and when she reached the edge OF
it she jumped off and dropped"
"It's time I hove the log" said Will.
Jams, and with that the party broke up,
and Kelley, with an air of great satisfac.
ton, walked over to the rail and gave
the jib sheet critical examination.