St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-12-22

by and by" He might hare added that
he now carries his certificate as a
junior officer, and the fates look as If
they mean to make him q full-blown
skipper before he gets beard.
"You might tell me, SO may ask ono
or two questions on them, the main
facts of your skippership Of the Trafal-
gar"
Briefly they are these: We were
sailing from Batavia for Melbourne in
ballast. Capt. Edward died of Java
fever while we were lying in Batavia.
We left two men i'll in hospital and two
had deserted, 50 we sailed with crew,
all told, Of twenty-three hands. Mr..
Roberts, who had been first mate, was
now in command; we had got q new
first mate, Mr.. Norwood; . seaman
from the fo'c'sle had been made second
mate, and / was ranked third mate"
And so you put out on October 20
last, think, for Melbourne?"
Eyes. taking the fever with us, I'm
sorry to say. I had been Ill Of it my
self, and suffered a two-hours' attack
almost every day until we reached Mel
bourne. But l was spared, although
while the attacks were on really
don't think l should have cared how it
went with me. Well, first an able sea-
man died, then Mr.. Roberts and the
carpenter, then Mr.. Norwood and then
the cook. A desolating business it
was, and sadly demoralized the crew,
especially as they were left with my
seif-an apprentice just ont Of his time,
q boy-es the only one on board who
could navigate
'.But didn't the prospect appear .
misunderstanding one to you?"
Really, l can't say that / ever
thought of that; perhaps because had
not time; perhaps because while Mr..
Roberts and Mr.. Norwood were lying
i'll had already been navigating the
ship. You see, the third mate, with
whom took watch and watch about
from the time we lost the other officers,
could not navigate; but. frankly, l
hadn't any fear about being able to
take the Trafalgar to Melbourne, and
I told the men so. They wanted to
make for the nearest port in Australia,
but l set my face against that, because
it would have involved great expense
to the owners. Besides, as argued
with them, If I could navigate the
ship to the nearest port in Australia,
could navigate her to Melbourne"
Il believe they didn't work with you
Just as heartily as they might have
dOne.'
CAS- have said, the deaths on board
and the position we were left In made
the men see things very blackly. It
was from that fact that any difficulties
had with them arose, not from de-
sire, I'm certain, to cause difficulties.
Anybody who knows what sailors arc
will easily understand their fidgetiness
and the troubles they made as result
Of it. If / had been in the fo'c's1e and
seen q lad taking the bearings day
after day on the quarter deck, and had
known that he was the only frail
guide on the trackless sea-why, ]
think 1 might myself have been q tribe
uneasy. All the men could have done
would have been to take given direc-
tion-the direction Of the Australian
continent-and bear up for It. Either
that or have trusted to being picked
up by passing ship. In the first
case, they must run her aground on the
first land they touched. 1t might have
been q barren coast, hundreds of miles
from civilization. Whatever happened
to them, she must have been lost. As
70 being picked up by another ship
well, the comment on that Is that we
didn't see one on the whole voyage"
Naturally, only those on board the
Trafalgar could really recognize all
that was meant in your skippership?"
I'VE had . good bit Of rough weather
when we got into Australian attitudes;
had sails blown away and so ON; but
got to Melbourne all right in time for
Christmas-onD December IL. Immediate
" they got foot on shore the men forgot
all their troubles and couldn't say too
kind things to me, as, indeed. 1t has
been also with other people since.
The whole affair was, no doubt,
strange-and may never occur again
anyhow, in my experience. Perhaps 1t
was not without its risks, but Il I had
set to doubling about the result We
might not have got through - We did.
von lrno~ o-Y.nndov, Latter