The San Francisco call., 1895-12-19
How the Crew of the Iroquois
Kept Hunger From Their
Doors.
A DISMAL TALE OF THE SEA.
The Usual Brutal Mate and His Ready
Fist-How a Deaf Mute Took
His Beating.

The American ship Iroquois, Captain
Taylor, arrived yesterday, 145 days from
Philadelphia. While off the Falkland
Islands she encountered a severe gale
which blew away most of her sails. For
ten hours she struggled with the tempest
upon lee snore and several times she lay
close to breakers and sure destruction on
the reef over which the awful seas broke in
savage fury. The ships splendid sailing
qualities in the wind told in her favor and
she was enabled foot by foot to beat out OF
danger. Around the Horn she had tenn
pestuous weather, heavy gales and bitter
cold. During her progress up the western
coast to port she met strong blows, and no
later than last Sunday she encountered
gale that took some of the lighter canvas
off her yards.
The Iroquois is comparatively a new
ship and one of the prettiest models that
ever came from Bath shipyard. The
lines of her run are as graceful as
yachts and her appearance around the
decks smacks of the tidiness of a man.
of-war.
But the crew tell tale that is not nice
not as nice as their ship. There is no
suggestion of the vessels grace and
beauty in their well-rounded-out story of
lnhuman abuse and needless cruelty. The
'bucko first mate" that barbaric genius
of the American clipper ship, presided
hard over the destinies of the 1roquois'
seamen from the day she cast off her
shore lines in the city of Brotherly Love
til her anchor went overheard in San
Francisco Bay. They are an intelligent
set of young fellows, the most favorably
appearing deep-water ships crew to
man that has entered this harbor tor years.
but to quote the words of one Of tn cir
mum Der, they "have been in hell for five
MONTHS" There is d uniqueness in the
details of their joint narrative that takes
the forecastle history of this voyage out of
the ordinary run of the everyday yarn of
sea-barbarism.
E. C. Ester is the first mate of the
Iroquois, and according to the men he
made things warm for them-so exceed
ingly warm that the forecastle thermome-
ters went up even when the seas that
boarded them fell upon the decks to lie
there in sheets of ice. He was, however,
no respecter of persons and went from
Second Mate Brown, an old man, down
the line, hand over hand, to the solitary
apprentice boy, with brutal language,
kicks and blows.
The following is the forecastle log of his
exploits:
John Howard-Beaten for being twenty
minutes late in furling the main royal one
night during gale. The bunt whip was
iammed and the men on deck were delayed in
hauling up the sail. This kept Howard longer
on the yard and gained him a brutal kicking
when he came down on deck.
o. Larsen-Kicked on the maintopsail yard
because he could not furl the frozen canvas
quickly. Ester stood in the topmast rigging
above him and kicked the luckless man as he
clung to the swaying yard. He was badly i'll
jured.
Larsen and Howard-Beaten while ON watch.
Larsen, who was i'll from former kicking, was
ten minutes late in relieving Howard on the
lookout When Howard came aft to report
himself relieved the mate knocked him down