The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-21

! work. To drive her into such sea under
so much canvas was risky business. II
did not seem possible that wood
and iron could hold together under the
strain. The deck was all awash and every
thing that was not securely dashed was
ahoat in the lee scuppers. The lee cathead
was out of sight half the time, and my
chum remarked that he would not be sur
prised to see her make dive and come up
with everything gone forward and both
anchors hanging to tho footropes of the
foreyard. Many an able ship would have
been under double-reefed topsails at that
time. / had seen ships carry sail before,
but never saw one stand up under canvas
as the Ocean Signal did that night, during
which the captain never went below for
more than minute or two at time.
If the cruiser held on as she was heading
when we last saw her our courses were di-
verging, SO that by daylight, if we could
drag sail so long the two vessels would be
many miles apart. We didn't get any
watch below. you may be sure, though we
had big nip of whisky every four hours
and a pot of hot coffee and bit of a
snack at the galley when we wanted it..
The ship was staggering terribly. Between
fierce lee lurches and vicious weather
rolls, which occurred in occasional mo-
mentary lulls of the wind, we had to look
sharp for ourselves.
Toward morning the wind Stacked up
and the sea went down somewhat, so that
we made sail again and braced sharp up.
At sunrise there was nothing in sight from
the mainroyai yard. We had run away
from the smartest cruiser the British could
build at that time. L don't believe that
any ship ever carried sail harder than the
Signal did then, and with all the battering
and straining she got she did not make an
extra bucket of water, which showed her
to be light and solid old boat She is
still in existence-a petroleum droger in
the Mediterranean, along with the Young
America, n. B. Palmer and other once
famous California clippers that have be-
come too old to be trusted with valuable
cargoes.
Some years afterward, when / had got
to be mate of a ship, ran across Captain
Ladd in Liverpool. He told me that he
had met Captain semmes of the Alabama
in Mobile, and had quite talk with him.
recalling the long chase off the
Brazilian coast. Semmes said: mo
other. ship ever beat US so badly
as the Ocean. Signal did, though
several got away from US. 1t cost us nearly
all our coal to chase her, and We had to 60
to Martinique to fill our bunkers. mar
rowly escaping the big United States gun
boat Vanderbilt, which had been specially
detailed to look after Us. We presumed
that the Ocean Signal would be likely to
keep off dead before the wind after dark
to give us the slip, instead of which you
braced up and went right into the teeth of
a gale, which we didn't for moment think
you would do. As we were not Yankees
we could not guess correctly. SO you es-
capped and saved your ship. We would
have captured you to certainty if it had
not been for the rafting breeze you carried
so steadily. We wanted you very much
for the saltpeter you were loaded with"
1t will be remembered that the Alabama
subsequently got into fix where even.
saltpeter could not save her from the guns
OF the kearsarge. for Captain Wins
low got to her collar" She was really
about the most effective cruiser that ever
sailed under any flag. She could remain
at sea a long time In fact she could go
around the world without once making
port, her consumption of coal being re-
markedly small, with sail power almost as
great as that of an ordinary ship of equal
tonnage, so that she did all her cruising
under sail, reserving her fuel for emer-
gencies.
Not being compelled to remain in the