The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-03-18
Especial Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1891
LONDON, March 6, 1893.

l0pecIaA correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright, 1891
LONDON, March 6, 1888.
There is always a deeply pathetic side
to travel, free as ones heart may be
from signs and shadows. Many times
as you may have witnessed it there is a
little drama always performed as the great
ocean steamers leave the port of New
ork, which brings the mist to your
landward-looking eyes.
If you are first tripper'' it will thrill
you deeper still. You have, perhaps,
wondered what that bronzed-faced man
in citizens clothing was doing up there
among the bespangled officers upon the
bridge. He seems the. quietest fellow
on board. His eyes are singing out
the row of channel buoys, or, with a
glass, rapidly scanning the lower Jersey
shores and the cleaning lines OF the Long
Island sands; or, again, CHANGING al this
point or that along the sea horizon. His
IS an anxious face. The lines in it uncon-
sciOusly picture the human look that tells
OF something lost, or of great danger that
there may be. / have seen men ike him
stand where he is with that same look,
and the perspiration dropping from their
faces in streams in the coolest OF weather.
lnis man is not the ships captain; but
while he stands there, now and then Civ
ing low-tOned order, he is absolutely
the commander of the ship. He is a New
ork pilot, detailed from the lower Wall
street Pilot Ofhce, TO take your ship to
sea. In ordinary cases his lee would be
based upon the ships tonnage. With the
larger ocean steamships Jumped" price
Is made. lie must remain aboard until
sandy Hook IS passed, and as much fur
ther out as the steamer captain desires.
II 1t be pleasant weather when You are
abreast OF Sandy Hook you viii notice
a row boat, yawl-Duilt, manned by two
men. putting out from the li5htship an
chored between your steamer and the
Hook. This HghtShlp IS simply a New
oTk harbor pilot-boat, by pilot regula-
tons made to do her turn" OF month S
stand" in this unsavory, though often
exciting, berth. Her crew are pilots an
prentices getting their first lessons and
experience at pilots duties and hard =
ships. The boat being rowed briskIy to-
ward your steamer in the channel is
called pilots punt" and the two oars
men are knottlly built apprentice lads of
is OF 70 years OF age. At the same moment
the punt heads lOr the steamer the lat
ter's engines slow down. The punt and
the steamer meet at the point of an exact
right angle. Lines are cast, the punt
made last TO float alongside the ships
port-side, and the rope-ladder is low
cred.
Meantime the pilot has resigned his
post on the bridge. The chief ouicer i'm
medlately takes his place. Stepping to
the chart-rOOm the pilot CertitieS in the
log-bOok that the ship has duly cleared
the port Of New y York, the ships COM
luander ceruues to the pilots lee, which
pIlotage is paid by the New York agents
OF the line, and III moment more the
pilot is 'dropped'' into the waiting punt.
by tie ships rail stands the purser. or
the mail-steward. y thousand addenda
good-bys have been hastily written,
sealed and stamped, and hundreds OF
kilograms lndlted between the docks and
the Hook. These, the last slender thread
between land and home and the unaltera-
bic ilnallty Of your voyage, are let down
by line to the pilot, who takes them, as
with Inconsistencies tenderness, in his
arms.
In another instant the ships engines
are again laundering. The pilots punt
Shoots straight for the lightship. The off
Ger ON the bridge mods to the boatswain.
whose Shrlll whistle strikes the flags -
The quartermasters bring down the ships
three hags-the blue Peter" or sailing
day flag, from the foremost, and the en-
sign from the gatf, as u dead-shot hunter
VIII bring some gay bird of passage from
its light quiverngly TO his 1eeT. \ fare
well cheer rings out over the pOTt-side
after the departing pilot. our voyage
Is now irrevocably begun.
Eel desertar!" 'l1l desertar!' were the
low-toned. CALCULATIONS 1 heard all about
me one April morning, in 1856, in the
cabin OF the ferry boat, "EdUuard Eesser"
Is II lett the Regla side for the two-mile
trip across Havana Bay to the city. The
cabin was well filled, and in a moment
there came fussing and tuning through
the narrow passage to the forward cabin
a Spanish sergeant and guard having
IN charge man OF most pitiabIe appear
ance. l made room quickly SO that two
seats were vacant near me, in which the
guard and his prisoner sat. the latter next
me, while the sergeant, bearing paper
with dangling seal, strobe forward a
DIT, pompous with the importance of his
mission ana charge.
These ferries carry the gayest of crowds
between Havana and the beautiful su-
burbs TO the east, but the entrance of the
party hushed the laughter and pleasant
sallIes OF men and women instantly. All
present seemed painfully exerting them
selves to ignore the presence of the little
group, but every one from time to time
stole glanceS at the deserter. and, well
Tor humanity, not a hard look feI upon
him. Some old priests near seemed 10 be
moving their lips as il in prayer for linn,
anu bGLAAA4l many ldtl COull see the
lace OF some beautiful sonora or senorIta
in tears.
knew well enough what it all meant.
having once been soldier. But | did
not AT once catch the full import OF the
brutal CELEBRITY OF spanish military re-
Venge. Shortly the guard closed Il iiippant
recital 10 a passenger near him. 10 the
elect thai the man had deserted from the
forces III Moro Castle some weeks before
after tremendous logging for some
slight iulractIOn OF discipline. and got so
lar as the Jaruco Mountains, where he
baflled pursuit for some limo, but finally
had been run down by bloodhounds.
"Ah, yes" he airily concluded. "he
will really not even need breakfast again.
The consejo de guerra ,court-martiaI) is
already awaiting his arTiNalp'
The deserter was but boy. He had a
fair face, too, round, almost boyish. even
through the hunted look that had made
him an old man III terror and desperate
effort during those few weeks in the
chaparral. His clothing was in rags, and
his bare flesh, SCARED and bloody, showed
through. His feet were partly bound with
,-apS and bark thongs OF the ribbon tree.
He was bareheaded, his hair tangled and
knottv. and in one place saber cut was
still open and bleeding. But he sat there
with his hands clenched and his face
like a piece of marble begrimed with
mud.
Through the windows Of the ferry the
snars. rigging and flags of a thousand
Sims upon the peaceful bay cleaned and
rIowed as we passed. The sun that
1ighted the whole earth with such SPLEEN
dor kissed the mountain and made old
Moro Castle even beautiful. The de-
serter looked at Moro as with an awful
fascination. Then, as ii beyond it and
what he knew was waiting for him there,
uhe moor fellows eyes seemed strained
10 some point far. far away. All, his
~ oHS -.,,oJ tho l,Sta6 walls To old