The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-20

lowed, during which he happened 10 think he had heard somewhere that French vessels counted their longitude from Paris. On looking up the dtIer- ence between Paris and Greenwich, IL was found to be just about the differ- ence between our longitude ana that given by the steamer. Although some what relieved, our captain could not help feeling anxious.
 On August 14th at p. m our figures made the ship close up to Nantucket South Shoal, but the weather not belng clear, nothing could be seen to verify the position, and rather than run any closer the ship was put about and headed to the south. Soon after day break the next day we had a slant of wind from the eastward which soon freshened. The sky was overcast at noon, thus hindering a good sight at the sun, but from the figures the ship was one hundred and fifty-eight miles 1 from Cape May light. During the af- I ternoon brig outward bound passed, and our captain did not lose this chance to verify his position, and diff l ference of only a few miles was the re- suit
 l All the afternoon the breeze fresh-
 ened, and we flew toward the capes in a way that made the sailors say She l had got whiff of the land" Some of
 the men laughed at the signs overhead
 of a coming storm, saying, We'll be in the bay in the morning, so let her
 blow"
 1 By 8 p. m. We were reeling off the knots at such a rate that our cautious
 and anxious captain ordered all light sails furled. By ten we had reefed off l twenty knots more, and some Of the heavier sails were lowered but not I furled. Even this did not seem to
 check the speed of the ship, as the log
 registered twenty knots more by mid night.
 l Not wishing to make the land before ] daylight, some of the larger sails were 1 lowered, but fifteen knots more were reeled off by p. m. As it seemed all
 most impossible to check the ship she
 was now hove to.
 1 Daylight came and with it fresh
 gale from the northeast, accompanied by heavy rain. Now we had our hands full, furling sail after sail, not to be
 '"towed up the river" as we had hoped, l but to ride out a northeaster.
 To keep off a lee shore the ship was headed about southeast and hove to, and then we could only wait for the
 gale to let up. Soon after a. m the wind and sea suddenly calmed down, and as the weather cleared up little we saw schooners all around us in the distance.
 At noon we were close enough to speak one, and found that they had left the BreakWater al 10 p. m. the night before. According to their cap-
 tain Five Fathom Bank Lightship bore southwest by west twenty-nine miles.
 Here our Old Man again showed his
 cautiousness by ordering the H.
 headed southwest or full point away
 from the bearing given by the other
 captain. The breeze was very light
 and mist hung over the ocean, so
 nothing could be seen over two CT three
 miles away It would not take long to
 run twenty-nine miles, so once more
 we hoped to be iii the bay before night
 was sent to the masthead to look for
 the lightship or a pilot boat, but the af-
 ternoon watch passed without sign Of
 either.
 In the second dog watch G to p. nl.)
 was sent aloft again. By this time
 we had sailed about forty miles since
 speaking the schooner, and if their fig
 ures were at all correct some of the
 shore lights should be in sight, but at
 s D. m, after covering fifty miles on
 this course, nothing had been sighted,
 and we had another night at sea before
 us.
 The ship was hove to after taking
 several soundings. Then the captain
 and the mate retired to the cabin to see | if they could locate the ship on the l chart It was while making my report that nothing was in sight from the masthead that I heard the Old Man say: "The observations say she is here, the dead reckoning say shes there, while the soundings say she is in , neither place, and d. if I know , where she is'' It was decided to re- : main hove to during the night and at a. m. to run in due west for the coast : and thus find out where the ship was. Accordingly this was done, and al
 daylight we were once more under way making for the coast as rapidly as the 1 light wind would take us. It was Stll . somewhat hay, and nothing but an oc caEional schooner in sight. About 10 a m. we fell in with a three-master, ane the Old Man laid the H. alongside and spoke her. The schooner seemed
 afraid to have a big, full-rigged shiI l so close to her, and kept edging away but we had quite a conversation. She was from Charleston, bound tt r Philadelphia, and their reckoning gav' g Cape Henry light as bearing west southwest thirty-five miles. Imagin' . our surprise to find the ship nearly | down to the capes of the Chesapeake The sailors had a good laugh at the Olt e Man behind his back for being so mucl s out of the way, and they sprang quick l ly to the braces to put the ship abou T and on her way north again. [ Even thus close to port our chance . were not good for getting in, as tn n wind was ahead and rapidly dying out At noon it was calm but clear, and fo I the first time for some days the captai t had Q good, clear sight at old Sol am t was able to work up his position. e This showed us to be little furthe 2 north than the schooner captains posi- T tion, and all we wanted was a fey e hours of fair wind, but no breeze came c the sea being like a big mill pond tn o whole afternoon. As the sun began n t.-s,, f,,E. II, ,-sr-