Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-08-09
NOVELIST Or THE SEA.
A VISIT TO DEAL, fHI EoKE OF CLARK
RUSSELL.
A Rugged, Kind-Hsar.sd, SsilCrliks Efa-Ths
Secret Of Bis Power as hoyslisi-HOw
Hs Came 10 Writa

mOSG clOqueub anu surfing culOhg
pronounced upon Mr.. Clark Russell,
who is himself an American born writer,
and his splendid stories OF the sea, is
that one penned by Herman Melville,
the great American sea novelist, in his
book, of which only twenty-five copies
were published, "John MARI and Other
Sailors" wherein he thus speaks OF Mr..
| Russell, to whom he dedicates his book:
&c The Wreck of the Grosvenor's en-
titles the author to the naval crown in
current literature. Upon the 'Gros-
venor's' first appearance in these waters,
I was going to say, all competent judges
exclaimed, each after his own fashion,
something to this effect:-'The very
spit Of the brine in our faces What
writer so thoroughly as this one knows
the sea and the blue waters of it, the
sailor and the heart of him, the ship,
too, and the sailing and handling OF q
ship"
And this is true judgment.
By many ''landlubbers" it is supposed
that he never was at sea, that like most
writers of sea stories he got his ideas
from books. Sailors know better. He
is termed the modern Marryat. He is
the only writer who has ever inter-
preted the English merchant service.
In this he stands alone and in this he
differs from all his predecessors. His
pages are full Of his own personal expe-
riences. This found out for myself in
a very interesting conversation which l
RECENTLY had with him at his home in
Deal.
Dealt Briny, quaint, old fashioned,
Deal Deal, with its grumbling, can
tankerous, loafng quid chewing, yarn
spinning, but altogether delightful
fishermen and 'longshoremen! its
single, its galleys and luggers and
rows of capstans and serpentine coils OF
chains. Deal, with all its history, its
legends of Caesar and st. Augustine, for
both landed here in the dim and distant
past. Deal, upon whose beach were
driven thirty Spanish galleons by the
fierce Van Tromp, where black eyed
Susan kissed her love goodby laEi where
Lord Nelson on board tfa, Neduss
awaited Napoleons threatened inva-
sion. ~
SYMPATHETIC SURROUNDINGS.
1t was in such thoroughly sympa-
thetic surroundings that l found the
English novelist of the sea as he gazed
from his wide viewing windows upon
the ever changing and yet ever eternal
sea. sat down beside him, the rugged,
kind hearted, sailorlike looking man
that he is, and looked down upon the
waters as they Tapped gently upon the
beach almost Immediately beneath us.
A deep calm pervaded everywhere; sea
and sky and land were lulled to dream
less sleep.
Now and again golden shaft oflight
shot from the setting sun and just indi-
Gated those far off yellow sands, the
awful Good wins, the graveyard OF many
a gallant ship, distant steamer could
be deserted upon the horizon, or we
would watch
Some ship Of battle slowly creep
And on through zones Of light and shadow
Glimmer away to the lonely deep.
| At last / broke the silence. "Come,
you ancient mariner, spin me a yarn.
| Tell me how you, with almost the
| weirdness of a. German folklore story
or the artful heart stopping power OF
| Coleridge or an Edgar Allen Poe, write
these wonderful sea stories OF yours?
81 will tell you In one word what is
the secret Of any power l may possess.
| write only that which L know.
speak out Of my own experience. How
should q man who has probably never
seen more salt water than the English
Channel. and who most likely was too
seasick to observe what was spread be-
fore him, how should such man able
to appreciate description OF high
sea off Cope Horn, much less describe 1t
himself. or what does he know OF the
appearance OF large, full rugged ship
motionlessly becalmed upon the Equa-
tor. You might as well expect COCK
new who knows no more Of the world
than Cheapside and Fleet street to wit
ness and enjoy points OF rural beauty
with the eye and appetite OF a dlioert
White. / have been nearly all over the
world In my time and l know exactly
what am writing about when de-
scribe the sea and things nautical.
AN OLD FRIEND AFLoAr.
ST went to sea as MILDLY In one OF
the old Blackwell liners at thirteen
years Of age. 1 was all throush the
China war, on board the old Hugonont,
and it was only one day last week l was
sitting here and saw her towed down
the Channel. knew her dear old lines
as soon as / clapped eyes on her"
"But Mr.. Russell, how Is 1t you can so
vividly place all these scenes before
vour readers? 1t must be difficult to
mopnuvre a ship on the water, but to
maneuvre ship on paper, to sail a paint
ed ship upon a painted ocean, that must
take some doing"
Mr.. Russell smiled as he replied
GAY, you are right Ny plan Is always
to endeavor to place myself and my
readers upon the ships deck. Critics
saw there is too much sea and sky In my
novels, but what would you2 1t Is ex-
actly as at sea-"
81 reuemember," he went on, explain
ING tn me the manner in which he al
WAYS accurately described that which
he saw. "that l would notice every
thing and possessed the capacity Tor
blending. For instance" and as he
spoke he pointed to a sea bird that was
CRYING beneath us, take that white
gull floating there on tremulous wing;
now that Is the object Of interest. Now
group all my effect around that bird.
| / would note the mirage / saw, the
haze, the simmer, the water, .he up
lifted vessel. harmonic atmospheric
effects with material objects. and then
your untravelled critic falls foul OF me
for describing perhaps an Arctic sun
rise. simply because he never happened
to see the like in Regent street or Madi-
son avenue.
81 am charged with sameness by those
dreadful critics. Could anything differ
more essentially in all respects than the
Frozen Pirate from the Golden Hope