Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-04-19
on THE BRIG COUNTESS.

of Mrs. Allan White, daughter of
Capt Thomas of the brig Countess. To
the general reader those lines meant
nothing. | do not suppose there are
fifty people in all England today who
can recall the case of the Countess. al.
though the particulars were published
far and wide. and finally appeared in
book form. Ii Is thirty years since the
circumstances occurred, and as | was
the sole survivor of the crew, and the
one who gave all the particulars to
the English press, perhaps | can tell
the adventure in a way tointerest you.
The Countess was a Bristol brig,
owned in part and commanded by
Capt Thomas. who was not only a
thorough seaman but man of excel
lent heart. We We're bound out to
Georgetown. in British Guinea. with
orders 10 call at jamaica. Thi, was
my third voyage with Capt Thomas,
the other two extending only Ia ports
in Spain and return. was an appren-
tice, or ships boy. having nothing to
do with the cabin but living with the
crew in the fo'cas' lie and learning To
be a sailor On th. day we left Bristol
l was II years o, age, aud stnut and
robust for boy uf my size. We car
ried two mates, cook, and seven men
before the mast This was very full
handed for a b'ig of her size. but it
was one of the peculiaritlcs of the cap
tam nsver To YIt Ia sea short handed.
Rather than Il ~ he would carry one
hand extra, He was often laughed at
for this, but ne commended that it paid
IN the long ran. and 80 it did.
After We left port aud got things
ship shape | had opportunity 10 look
over the crew and see what they were
made of, and | was not long in max
ing up my mind, boy as | was, that
we had shipped hard lot. There is
always leader in the fo'castle and in
those days il was the best fighter
Seamanship and education had To bow
TO brute strength. We were not out
three days before burly big fellow
who went by the name of Bristol
Bob but whose real name was Ila-
rens, had established himself Us
boss. Ii he had had the good of the
brig in view this would have been for
her benefit, but il soon trln>pired that
he had plans of his own. Al sea the
first mate stands his own watch, while
the second mate stands for the cap
tain. Our second mate was named
Miner and | was in his watch. as
was also Bristol Bob and couple of
his chums. The first mate was named
Parker and il soon transpired that he
was good seaman but man of little
tact or judgment. While the captain
was too lenient he was too harsh, and
we had not been al sea week before
the second did not seem to be clear as
to whether he should side with the
men or the officers.
Before reaching Jamaica the crew
had been on the point of mutiny half
dozen times. There had been blows
and kicks and cuffs: the first mate had
been knocked down; the captain had
called the crew aft and made them "A
speech; the second mate had given
the men 10 understand that he sided
with them, on reaching Jamaica every
one Of the crew would have deserted
but for th" plans of the ringleader.
He had already sown seeds which
were taking root. Til" captain did
expect the men 10 cut sticks, and was
surprised that none left. heard him
say as much 10 Mr.. Parker When
the latter found that the men were to
stay by hc threatened to 90 ashore
himself, claiming that such men could
onl Y be handled by enforcing the Sc
verest discipline, but the captain some
how smoothed 1t over with him, and
when we left the island we still had
every man aboard who had shipped at
Bristol On several occasions / had
seen Bristol Bob and his chums in
close conversation. and on several
other occasions the cook had slipped
into the forecastle. where he had no
business 10 be, to hold confabs
could see plain enough that something
suspicious was in the wind. and |
think Mr. Parker also suspected the
plotting. as we had no sooner left
Kingston than ! saw him closely
watching all the men In setting the
watches anew, Bob and two of his
friends and myself were placed in his
watch.
For the first three days out nothing
unusual occurred. The men did their
work as well as could be asked for,
and were 80 respectful as To create sur
prise, Everything was on the surface,
however. When out Of sight in the
fo'castle the iGcn were growing and
cursing worse than before. One after
noon-it was on the fourth day, / be-
lieve-I was aroused from my sleep
during my watch below by conver-
sation between Bob and man named
jackson. They knew / was in the
bunk, but believed me TO be sleeping
soundly.
This is the plan as have thought
IL out Bob was saying After we
have got The brig we will cruise to the
eastward for spell. While / can't
shoot the sun or fir up and get our
latitude and longitude, l can see a
chart as well AS any one, and the log
will tell us how far we have run. We
know tha, all the islands are 10 the
northeast. Every one is down on the
chart. Beyond them is the Atlantic.
The island | am after Is not down on
the chart. II is northeast of Trinidad,
and maybe 200 miles away.
Don't Miner known asked the