The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
A CORPSE ON THE KEEL.
THE awful CRUISE OF THE sHII.
TORNADO.
Held Back by the Dead on n silent
sea for Twenty Days.
From The Pittsburg Post.

Sea for Twenty Days.
From the Pittsburg Post.
II there was a faster ship ahoat in the
COS than the Tornado. have never heard
her referred 10. The fact that she was
clipper 10 sail came about moro by acci-
dent than design, for she was built in an
English shipyard b. English shipwrigh;s
and after the plan OF an English draughts-
man. II is no slur on the English nation
to say that they have never known how
TO build sailing ships to compare with the
crafts turned out on this side OF the water.
They have made some changes in Their
models and in their manner of rig
ging. but up to this date have refused 10
copy after the Yankees and turn out a
combination Of speed, grace and carrying
capacity. 1t was a source of wonder TO
everybody who saw the Tornado that she
was launched from a British shipyard AMI
her nickname-The Accident-followed her
all over the world. She was three years
( old and had won record when ] shipped
in her for a voyage from Liverpool %
San Francisco and return. She had a crew
of twenty-five men and a miscellaneous
cargo and was commanded by Capt. James
Cross.
No less than nine sailing ships left Liv-
erpOOl on the same tide with us. but only
one. the Astral was bound around the
| Horn. The others were for ports IN Bra
I'll. We were four hours behind the last
one In the feet, and yet In run of hf-
teen hours after the tug dropped us we
were I'm the lead. The Tornado was
a -
like yacht, and had no tricks about her.
He best point OF sailing. as in all square
riggers, was with the wind over the quar-
ter, but she was a surprise no matter how
the wind came along. When another shlp
of her class would have two men at her
wheel with their Jackets off and their
shirts wet with perspiration the Tornado
only wanted the touch of a single hand
to keep her wake as straight as an ar
row. On that occasion there were eight
cen days when We logged off a daily run
which the captain of a steamer might
have been proud of, and the voyage to
San Francisco was made four days short
er than ever before by a sailing ship.
When ready to leave port we found we
were to have company. The bark Wild
Rose and the ship Arrow, both American.
were homeward bound to New York and
Boston. Both were fast crafts. and the
result of much Dragging and boasting was
a wager on WnlCn craft would round the
Horn first. The three captains put the
sum of 81 500 into a pool for the victor.
and have no doubt the American officers
followed Capt. Crosss example in promis-
ing the men extra money If they won the
wager. The Arrow passed out first, fol-
lowed by the bark, and both were ten
miles off the coast before we had passed
Seal Rock. There was a fresh breeze
from just the point we wanted, it, and in
three hours we were leading the bark and
creeping upon the ship.
At shutdown we were leading the latter
by five miles. Next morning the ocean
was clear as far as could be seen, and
the crew looked upon the wager as al
ready won. The run to the south was al
most the average of a passenger steamer,
and each days run was ehalked on a
blackboard for the benefit of the crew.
| At neon every day there was cheering and
tossing up of caps, and the mate gave out
that we were likely to beat the record
| going home and thus Top off the days
at both ends.
Fate had set a trap for the Tornado,
| however, and we found its jaws wide open
as we ran down to the equator. One af
| ternoon, two hours after the blackboard
has given US the run of the previous
| twenty-four hours as 260 miles, the breeze
began to die away, and by shutdown there
wasn't air enough to stir a feather Of
course, we hoped IL was only temporary
| calm. Not having any ports to touch at
| the captain had stood off the American
coast until his southing would pass him
| between Easter and Gomez Islands. The
| Americans might have followed in our
| wake or cut in closer to the coast. Every
| hour we lay there allowed them to gain
| on us, and when the night passed and
the sun came up and brought no breeze
we could figure that both were $50 miles
nearer.
From sunup to shutdown we lay there,
drifting a bit, but without the slightest
breeze, and with the sun so hot that all
work was suspended. Just at sunset 1t
clouded up and deluge of rain descend
ed, but when the rain ceased and the
clouds drifted away the same dead at
mosphere prevailed as before.
Then we began to realize that we were
in for a long-continued calm. One may
encounter a calm on any portion of the
sea, but an equatorial calm has sensa-
tions to be experienced nowhere else. The
sky loses it's color and becomes dead; the
surface of the water has grassy aspect
and the monotony of a dessert; the eter-
nal cheepng of the blocks and the creek
of the yards brings out a feeling of lonli-
ness to make men sulky and cross.
For five consecutive days and nights
there was not even a puff Of wind, and
the weather was so hot that no unneces-
sary work was done. 1t was well for the
ship that the officers understood sailors
natures in a calm. Had the captain
cursed and the mates nagged there would
have been a mutiny. Jack works by the
calendar month. The longer the voyages
is spun out the more pay is due him, and
yet nothing upsets him more than slow
sailing, while he would sooner lose
a months pay than to be becalmed for
week.
Toward the close of the fifth day the
Arrow, which had followed our route,
hove in sight and passed us about ten
miles to the eastward. We aftorward as
certained she lost a topmast and some of
her sails in a squall, and had thus been
delayed. While we lay wollowing on the
greasy sea she sailed right past. In other
words ten miles to the east of us there
was slant of wind to carry her over the
line. while the flame of a candle on board
of us would not even waVer. The Amer
lean bark had taken the inshore route and
passed US two days before, though we
knew nothing about 1t.
never heard such hearty cursing aboard
of a craft as was INDUCED in that evening
whom we saw the Yankee disaDDearfnR to