The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-12

on my jacket. AS soon as he descended
We looked to see the bark take in sail,
but not rope was handled, and she con-
tinued her course. The man probably re-
ported to the captain that our hulk was
buoyant, and there were only two of US.
and as the weather was fine, we were
left for somebody else to bother with.
The bark was the last craft sighted for
a period of fourteen days. During this
long interval the winds were mostly from
the north and east, driving us further out
to sea-. There were two days Of perfect
calm followed by two days gale. which
Kept us confined to the cabin, but though
the hulk drifted in the trough of the sea
she continued tight and buoyant, and
there was nothing to brighten us. On the
seventeenth day of our being blown away
We were overhauled by an italian brig,
and the mate came off to us in a boat
lie could not speak English and we could
not hold any conversation with him.
AS near as we could make out he wanted
lhe cargo, or at least his pick of il, for
taking is off, and when my aunt refused
her consent he returned to his ship. For
ten minutes there was an animated con-
versatlon between captain and mate, and
then the brig swung her yards and pro-
ceeded on her voyage. Her name was
the Ricardo of Genoa, bound to some port
IN the west with coffee but she never COM
pleted her voyage, nor was any clue to her
fate ever discovered. Like many another
craft she probably went down in mid
ocean. From the nth to the Path day
the ocean was a blank, with the weather
generally fair. As a rule my aunt stood
watch on deck until midnight, keeping
everything ready 10 make flare should
ship heave in sight, but she would not
permit me TO keep her company. The
lantern was regularly lighted and hoisted
and no californian could have added to the
precautions adopted that we might not be
passed by.
At 10 o'clock in the forenoon of the
oath day then blowing a fresh breeze, and
there being considerable sea on, a full
rugged ship appeared on the southwest
and seemed to be making a straight course
for us, when she suddenly sheared away
and passed us by distance of a mile.
Our signal flag was blowing out at full
length, and l would make a hundred affi-
daVits that every man on board, from
captain to cook, had their eyes upon u.s.
Indeed, never doubted that she altered
her course to avoid coming within hail
We dipped the flag of distress and shouted
as loud as we could but the ship held
right on and was soon hull down. My
aunt was so mad that she had a good cry
over it, but when | began to lament and
abandon all hope she fetched me box
on the ear and said she wouldn't leave the
hulk for the best craft afioat.
From the twenty-fourth to the thirty
third day of our drifting we did not sight
a sail and but few incidents worthy of
record took place. On the twenty-eight
day we were surrounded for an hour by
a school of whales, one of which dived
under the hulk and raised her keel and
fairly lifted her. on the thirtieth, as we
lazily drifted before the light breeze, we
sighted ships longboat with two dead
men Ill II. L OF dIl uOuT II was dlnOSl
alongside us, and by going to the top of
the broken foremost l could see right
down into the boat. One corpse lay in
the bows and the other in stern, and Meth
er water key nor provisions were to be
seen.
The name Condor was painted on the
boat, and when we told our story ashore
II was found that the Condor was an
English ship which had been given up for
lost months before. The boat had been
afloat over 200 hundred days when we saw
it. On the morning of the thirty-third
day, before either of us was awake, the
hulk was boarded by the mate of the ship
Southern Cross, bound from Charleston,
L. 81 A, TO the English channel His
footsteps on deck awoke us, and we
tumbled I'D to find his boat alongside
and the ship not far away. She had
course three points to investigate.
In the thirty-three days and nights we
had drifted a distance of 1,400 miles, and
were still bound westward. While the
hulk was still sound. she was not con-
sidered worth towing into port. Aunt Het-
ty did not propose to lose il, however.
The sea being smooth, she baPgained with
the Yankee skipper 10 get out the flour
and much of the corn, and when we were
finally landed at Plymouth Uncle William
had quite a bit of money to start anew on
Before leaving the hulk a dozen holes
were bored in her bottom, and the last we
saw of her she was slowly settling down
with the weight of the water in her hold
dead restored to life. We had been given
up for lost, and Uncle William was wear
ing a weed on his hat and arranging for
our tOn1bstones