Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-03-23
THE TRAGEDY OF A SAILORS CAP.
A True story.

n true
1t was a sultry day following a heavy
gale that had brought up from the south
west heat, mist and rain. The subsiding
winds had left long even swell rolling in
upon the coast, but the surface of each
huge sea was smooth and CLASSY. The
good old frigate Wabash rose and fell
lazily at her anchor; the sails, loosed to
dry, tapped heavily with the swaying of
the masts.
AWAY to the west doomed the low-lying
shores of Morris Island, and to the north
the sandy beach line was broken here and
there by the frowning walls of Sumter and
the wide-reaching traverses of forts Wayne
and Sullivan, floating the southern stars
and bars. Beyond the steeples of
Charleston rose above the smoke of the
city.
On board ship a morning of listless
activity had begun, as regular in its beats
as the movement of a well-timed clock.
The clothes of the morning watch had been
stretched to dry, hung on the girt-lines
between the fore and the main masts, for it
was jack-tar's wash-day. Suddenly
gentle air came from the land, the sun
burst out, the boatswain's whistle shrilled,
and the word was passed from spar to
berth-deck:
"All hands furl sail"
Slowly the men swarmed aloft, out upon
the yards, and furled away, the fore top
men pitted against the main, trying in
quickened emulation to have their duty
done the first. AS the men laid out at
the command, sailors cap fell from the
foretop-g gallant yard, and bounding and
tipping against gear and spar, FLASHED
softly into the sea close alongside the roll
ing frigate The owner was left bare
headed at the bunt.
Now in sailors cap are stored many
useful and many precious things. Every
thing but his money; that is kept, in a
rough purse of Jacks own making, lying
close on his hairy chest. In the rim of
his cap, however, between the pad and
lining, are his pipe, his plug of tobacco,
his open-topped thimble, needle crossed
with thread Qike boys kite twine), and
often his love-letter, to be read and re-
read on his watch below.
How that sailors cap came to fall is not
in history; but almost as soon as it had
struck the water its owner forsook his
duty on the yard, and Drawing the dis
pleasure of his mates and the reprimand
that was almost sure to follow, he hurried
down the shrouds. With an eager, reso-
lutte demeanor he approached the officer of
the deck. Pulling his forelock, in place of
salute, he said, respectfully:
"Pve lost my cap overheard, sir It's
close alongside. May fish itup from the
companion. ladderF"
The officer gained over by the mans
earnestness, and occupied by the work
going on in the sultry air above him, gave
a careless assent, as to a trifie. The sails
were soon rolled up, the gaskets passed,
and the men came down to deck. Just
then, as the officer turned to give the order
to haul taut the running-gear and square
the yards, commotion on the poop-deck
caught his eye--a commotion that denoted
some catastrophe.
"Man overboardr' rang out from a
group of idlers gathered near the taffrail.
There was a hurried going to and fro,
and an order shouted, LET go the life
buoy" by the watch officer, as he fastened
to the side.
The port-quarter boat, quickly manned,
was lowered away; but the davit falls
were tangled, and it fingered helplessly.
On the facing slope of mighty swell,
drifting swiftly with the northerly SCI of
the tide, could be seen poor Jack, notion
less, with outstretched arms, head down,
and quite exhausted. In rapid succession
two figures leaped up in the hammock
MEETINGS, and then dived out together
from the frigate's tall black sides. Two
heads bobbed up in the clear green water,
and one of the rescuers was seen 20 be an
officer-a Newfoundland the other a
simple sailor, who knew no better thing to
do than to save a shipmate's life. They
struck out bravely for The drowning man,
whose white shirt cleaned in the sunlight.
But suddenly shout came from the
ship, whose bulwarks were now fringed
with a row of anxious faces. A black
triangular fin cut with the spur of a race
horse through the water And here an
other, there third, and then a score of
them at once. The sharks were gathering
like a pack of wolves.
The quarter boat, cleared at last, pulled
from the shadow of the vessel, and two
Tescuers, now clinging to the life-buOy, urg-
ed the coxswain not to stop for them, but to
make for the drifting sailor. His figure
seemed to be moving slightly. Then the
white shirt was tossed about convulsively,
there was an angry swirl, and it disappeared,
leaving only ripple on the oily water to
mark the place. The crew stopped their
rowing and checked the boats speed with
gazed over the side down into the green
depths.
Have you ever seen a shoal of trout
around a sinking worm?
That's what they saw.
The bowman, as they turned, picked up
the fatal cause of the catastrophe, the cap,
and flung it with a curse upon the forward
gratings. Then the men, with white
strained faces, pulled for the two would-be
rescuers, who chung, pale and anxious, to
the life-buoy, and none too soon, for the
hOrrid fins were darting about in all di-
Tections, and deep in the lucid waters
dark shapes were hurting to and fro.
The quarter boat rose to her davits again
amidst the silence of seven hundred men
mustered on the deck. "John Mowbray,
seaman, 'DD'-dead, discharged" was
entered on the purser's book. AS if moth
ing had occurred the men were piped
to supper. The relic of the tragedy, the
cap, remained wet and sodden on the
capstan, tossed there by one of the boats
crew as he passed.
The officer of the watch passing the
starboard side of the quarterback, deep in
thought, suddenly noticed a sailor standing
at the mast awaiting recognition.
"What is it?" said the officer, stopping
short; the man saluted
81 begs pardon, SIR" he said. "But
that cap there is John Mowbray's. / was
with him on the foretop- gallant yard when