The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-06-13
SELECTED STORY.
How l Got Command.


latitude about 33 degrees north and
the longitude about 20 degrees west.
Half gale of wind was blowing; the
seas were running in tall, dark green
ridges, with ceaseless melting of
their heads into thunderous flashes
of snowlike whiteness.
Strong as the sea ran there was not
yet weight enough in the gale to
heave a ship to, and ours-the Lans-
down, of /, 200 tons, of which l, Will
liam Carew, was then the second
mate-was storming before the wind
homeward bound over the swelling
and bursting surge at 10 knots an
hour under reefed topsails and fore
course, with frequent courtesy of
her bows that lifted the water to the
level of the cat heads.
Captain Wilkins, the master, walk
ed the weather side of the poop. I
kept myself warm by trudging
athwartships. The main deck was
black and cleaning with the flying
spray.
On a sudden seaman in the fore
shrouds hailed the poop, and pointing
over the lee bow hoarsely bawled out
some words which l could not dis
tinguish. l went to the rail to look.
Captain Wilkins also crossed the
deck, and in a moment we saw the
hull of large ship looming in the
spray thickened distance ahead.
We approached her SO rapidly there
was no need of glass to see her con-
dition.
She was painted black, but her
clean, ruddy metal sheathipg gave
her the look of new ship. All
above the foremost was gone, but the
foreyard still stood crossed, with frag
ments of white cloth streaming from
1t like the teeth of an old mutilated
comb.
Her mainmast and maintopmast
were standing, the main and topsail
yards across, and the remains of the
maintopsail fogged the gale from the
bare bolt rope. All but about Is feet
of mizzenmast was gone. The stump
stood up like long fang, jagged and
naked.
The vessel was rolling wildly. She
lay in the trough, and though she rose
TO the sea with some suggestion of
buoyancy she would stoop her rails
In amazing rolls to starboard and
port, to port and starboard, "dishing"
the water, till you saw the bright
green flood rush with the stoop Of
her to the opposite bulwark, where,
with the fury Of its discharge, it
flashed up and ble% away in clouds
of dazzling spume.
There was long deckhouse aft.
The stump Of the mizzenmast was
stepped right through it, and on top
of that house, holding on by the rail
Mt the edge of it, were eight men as
counted them.
AS we approached, two of the men
exposed between them a small Eng
lish ensign, so continuing to hold it
stretched as to let us see that they
meant the jack to be down.
No need, poor creatures, to signal
their distress! They had not held
the flag couple of minutes when it
blew out of their hands and swept
like a CLEAN Of red fire into the
smother to leeward.
'She has no boats" shouted Cap
tain Wilkins to me. But no boat
would live in this sea- Yet those poor
fellows must be rescued. Call all
hands,"
He went to the wheel, and l, not
Immediately guessing his intentions,
bawled to the boatswain to summon
the whole of the crew on deck.
Now followed one of the most per-
feet bits of seamanship it was ever
my fortune to witness. Our helm
was shifted and the sails trimmed to
bring the ships head on line with
the stern of the wreck.
Captain Wilkins stood near the
wheel, coming the vessel. He
grasped speaking trumpet. His
eyes were cool, his manner composed.
Bis firm lips were slightly parted.
As the ship roarod down upon the
wreck, piling the foam to the spirit
Sail yard, the captain, after speaking
p word to the two helmsmen, took a
step to the rail and lifted the trumpet
to his mouth. While we thundered
past the rolling, grooming, streaming,
dismantled fabric, he shouted:
Keep up your hearts, my lads! !
am coming back for you. Watch
your chance and jump aboard of us
as we pass"
The next moment the wreck was
on our quarter, but the men had
heard, and we knew by the shout
they raised that they understood him.
There was small chance of "stay-
ing" in such a sea as that. We
'wore, " reefed the mainsail, boarded
the tack and thrashed to windward.
Then putting our helm over we
rounded for a second run down to
khe wreck
The men had got off the deckhouse
top and We're standing on the taffrail
ready for the jump. This was the
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