The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-23
SHIPS STRANGE STORY
She Was -Stanch and Fast, but
Had an Awful Cruise.
FALLING IN WITH a DERELlcT
Held Back for Twenty Days on a
Silent Sea by Some Unex-
planned ImDediment.

pldlutu lmUeullntuIs
Pittsbug Post.
If there was faster ship ahoat In the
SOS than the Tornado, have never heard
her refereed TO. The fact that She was
clipper to sail came about more by
accident than design, for she was built
in an English shipyard by English SHIP
Nrights and after the plan Of an English
draughtsman. 1t is no slur on the Eng
lish nation to say THAT they have never
known how to build sailing ships TO COM
pare with the crafts turned out ON this
side of the water. They have made some
changes in their models and in the man.
ner of rigging, but up to this date have
refused to copy after the Yankees and
turn out "a combination of speed, grace
and carrying capacity. 1t was source
of wonder to everybody who saw the
Tornado that she was launched from a
British shipyard, and her nickname-The
Accident followed her all over the world
She was three years old and had won a
record when shipped in her for voyage
from Liverpool to San Francisco and re-
turn She had a crew of twenty-five men
and miscellaneous cargo, and was conn
nlanded by Capt. James Gross.
No less than nine sailing vessels left
Liverpool ON the same tide with US, but
one, the Astral was bound around the
Horn. The others were for ports In
Brazil We were four hours behind the
last one in the fleet, and yet in a run Of
fifteen hours after the tug dropped us,
We we're in the lead. The Tornado was
nrn han f1lad
Ike a yacht and had no tricks about her.
Her best point of sailing, as in all square
riggers, was with the wind over the quar-
ter, but she was surprise no matter how
the wind came along. When another ship
of her class would have two men at
her wheel with their Jackets off and their
shirts wet with perspirahon the Tornado
only wanted the touch of single hand
TO keep her wake as straight as an arrow.
| On that occasion There wtre eighteen
days when we logged off daily run
which tlhe captain of a steamer might
have been proud of, and the voyage to
San Francisco was made four days
shorter than ever before by 70 sailing
ship.
When ready to leave .port we found we
were to have company. The bark Wild
Rose and THE ship Arrow, both American,
|
Boston. Both were fast crafts and the
result Of much Dragging and boasting was
a wager ON which craft would round the
| Horn first. The three captains put the
| sum of $500 into a pool for the victor,
| and have no doubt the American cap
tains followed Captain Cross example in
promising the men extra money If they
won the wager. The Arrow passed out
first, followed 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 sundown we were leading the lat
ter by five miles. Next morning the ocean
was clear as far as could be seen, and
the crew looked upon the wager as all
ready won. The run to the south was
almost the average of a passenger steam
| er, and each days run was chalked on q
| blackboard for the benefit of the crew.
| AT noon every day there was cheering
and tossing up OF caps, and the mate
| gave out that VIE were likely to beat the
record going home and thus lop 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 afternoon two hours after the black
board had given us the run OF the pre-
v.ous twenty-four hours as 260 miles, the
breeze began to die AWAY, and by SUM-
down There wasn't air enough to stir q
feather. OF course, we hoped 1t was only
a temporary calm. Not having any ports
| to touch ait 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 we 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 100 miles nearer.
From sunup to shutdown we lay there,
drifting bit, but without the slightest
breeze, and with the sun so hot that all
work WAS suspended just ait 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 cadm on any portion of the
sea, but an equatorial calm has senEa-
| tons TO be experienced nowhere else. The
| sky loses its color and becomes dead; the
| surface of the water has greasy aspect
| and the monotony of the desert; the eter-
nal cheeping of the blocks and the creak
of THE yards brings out feeling of loneii-
ness to make men sullSy and cross.
For five consecutive days and nights
there was not even a puff of wind, and
the weather was so hot that no upneces-
sary work was done. 1t was we'll for the
Ship that the officers understood sailors
natures in a calm. Had the captain
cursed and the mates nagged there would
| have been e mutiny. Jack works by the
| calendar month. The longer the voyage
is spun out the more pay is due him, and
| yet nothing upsets him more than slow
sailing, while he would sooner lose q
months pay than to be becagmed 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 westward We afte-ward as
certained she lost a topmast and some
of her salts In a squall, and had thus
been delayed. While we lay wallowfng on
the greasy sea she sailed right past us.
In other words, ten miles to the east Of
us there was slant of wind TO carry her
/ over the line, while the fame Of candle
| on board of us would not even waver. The
American bark had taken the inshore
route and passed us two days before,
though we knew nothing about 1t.
| 1 never heard such hearty cur&ng
aboard Of a craft as was indulged In
that evening when we saw the Yankee
disappearing to the south. Our five days
| gain on her was not only LOST but she
was clipping along at the rate of six or
seven miles an hour, while we were ly-
Ing like a water-soaked log. There were
half a dozen fights in the fore castle be-
fore Q O'Clock and at about 10 the cap
tain and mates had a row In the cabin
which could plainly be heard forward.
! Everybody was mad and disgusfed and
wanted TO vent his spite on another.
The sixth day came and went, as DID
the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth.
There was no change In the sky--no
change in the water. We ate, smoked,
drank. growled and slept, and, no mat
ter what sort OF a statement one made
he was DroFnrJtlv called a liar nd fho