Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-11-21
A SEA MYSTERY.

A SEA MYSTERY.
In the year 1860 I sailed in the ship
Sultan, vessel of 780 tons burden,
from the port of Liverpool, bound round
the Horn to Valparaiso with valuable
general cargo The captain was q man
named Jonas Jortin. I, who went in
her as chief mate, am named William
Fletcher
We carried no second officer Often
it happened in those days that even big
ships sailed with what is termed an
"only mate,' who was supposed to
comprise in himself all that was to be
expected in the shape of duty and
knowledge from first and second Off
Ger.
As I, however, held no certificate as
''only mate signed as chief, and
the boatswain, man named Benjamin
Matthews, took the working part of
second mate under me-that is, he re-
: ieved me when my watch was up,
walked the decks and trimmed sail at
his discretion. But he took no part in
the navigation of the ship. Indeed I
doubt if he knew what a sextant was,
and I am not sure that he could read or
write.
Captain Jortin was tall, lean, long
, faced man, with SO remarkable fall of
chin that his mouth seemed to be placed
almost exactly in the middle of his
face. His skin was yellow. He had fol-
lowed the sea for many years, but the
flesh Of his cheeks reflected nothing of
the glow and bronze of sun and weather.
His eyes were Of a dead black, like
an East Indians, without animation in
their glance and slow in their motions.
had been struck by tne figure he
made when I first boarded the ship in
the docks. Nothing could less corre-
spond with the traditional notions of
the old salt, with purple nose and bow
legs, eyes deep sunk by peering to
windward and a stormy voice broken
by years of drink and bawling, than
this master of the ship Sultan, button
ed up as he was in coat of a clerical
cut, his black hair smeared smooth, as
though his head was painted, limp, stick
up collars and long, square toed We'll
lington boots.
All went we'll with us till we had
gone clear of the northeast trade wind
and struck the "humbugging" paral
lels, as they are called, where you get
sheet calms with wide ocean white as
a level icefield, then faint drafts crawl
ing up in the direct line of the ships
course, painting the FURNISHED surface
with darkling shadows like huge marine
spiders creeping down from the edge of
the horizon. l think our latitude was
between and 10 degrees north when
what am going to tell you about hap
pened.
1t was the second dog watch, the
hour about half past 6. The ships yards
were braced we'll forward, and she was
ripping along to the pressure of three
knot breathing of air, coming hot as
steam from out of the glowing pavilions
of the west.
1t was sickeninglyclose, with the men
ace of an electric storm in delicate
winking Of VIZ ct dumb lightning away
down in the southeast, where the shad-
ow of the night was gathering, with a
large star already trembling low down
over the sea right abeam.
A fiddle was going upon the forecas-
tie head. A sailor was chanting ditty
to the tune. Most Of the ships company
were listening, lounging about the cat
head and against the rail, pipes in
mouth. Their open shirts disclosed their
mossy breasts, their legs were bare to
the knee for the comfort of the cool
ness, and their bedewed faces reflected
the angry red in the west as though
every man had oiled himself.
The captain was walking aft alone,
measuring space Of the deck from
abreast OF the wheel and something for
ward of the mizzen rigging. His gait
was that of a man in funeral process
sion-stiff, solemn, self conscious.
He had not been on deck above half
an hour, and in that time had not once
addressed me. Not indeed that there
was anything strange in this. Mates
and captains seldom converse at sea.
The master lives a life apart, and
this spirit Of isolation possesses the
mates, insomuch that I have met Off
GERS who declared to me that throughout
a round voyage running into couple of
years they scarcely exchanged more
than routine sentences and messages Of
duty with the shipmates aft from the
first hour of their getting their anchor
10 +Lo Of I,oi1 lot II
But even had Captain Jortin been So
ciably disposed he was not a sort OF man
I could have got on with. No one with
the weight Of a grievous sin upon his
soul could be more melancholy and aus
tere, more abrupt and reserved.
Matthews, the boatswain, thought to
explain the man by telling me he had
heard before we sailed that he had lost
his wife and only daughter within a
week after his return from his last voy-
age, but the captain never mentioned
the subject, nor could satisfy myself
that there was any suggestion of mourn
ing in that way either in his clothes Or
his behavior.
I had charge Of the ship this dog
watch and was standing at the head of
the starboard poop ladder listening to
the music forward. Suddenly the stew
ard came out of the cabin under the
cuddy front and looked for a moment
eagerly up at me with white face.
I called down, "What is it?'' inter-
preting his expression of fear into some
thing wrong. He came half way up the
ladder and said:
''Some ones been trying to scuttle
the ship, think. I can hear water run
ming in 'twixt the wall and the lining
in the after cabin in the steeraae. 8