Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-05-16
THE SHIP BUCEPHALUS.


The officer OF the life patrol paused
r<fth lighted lantern on his arm, his
>ea,'wester buttoned close up to his
tAfQat and the peak of his oilskin cap
4niled far down over his weatherbeaten
'nce and passed out into the night.
- Ia openfd the door gust of wind
swept che knob from his grasp, dashed
the framework against the wall of the
1lamber and extinguished the flicker
ing oil lamp that made shift ~ render
gksibse the darkness Of the room.
Clarence Baxter hastily fastened the
door after the retreating figure, re-
5 lighted the lamp and sat down on the
sea chest which served as a chair and a
bed. A strange place it was, this beach
Domber's cabin. Timbers from every
ship that had come ashore on Coffin
beach these so years were woven into
Sta heterogeneous framework. Here
part Of steamships deckhouse, there
stanchion from the sturdy hull of some
lorg-forgotten merchantmen, yonder
y the patched wainscoting of clipper
ships once gorgeous cabin-cheek-b
itwl these relics of departed pride
stood like monuments of the dead past
an some strange nautical cemetery.
Outside the gale, ragged with increas-
ing fury. Low though it sat between
che sand dunes, the solid walls of the
howell trembled and rocked under the
znpact of the blast like ship in q
sheary sea. Such spring storm had not
been seen on the coast for sears-not
since the night las veteran told after
ward) when the clipper ship Bucephalus
came ashore way back in the sos. In
the angle over there the prov of this
vessel formed a sort of cornerstone for
the strange structure, and the horse in
the fgurehead stared at Baxton with
the sightless eyes of an emblem of death.
He would have been puzzled to explain
why he felt so strangely, left alone in
this coy cabin. BaXton was not
superstitious man, nor one given to
sentimental vagaries or emotional weak
nesses. and yet, as the door swung to
utter the officer, he felt for moment
strange and unaccountable thrill--a
chilling of the blood-a consciousness
of something outside of his sphere of
influence, superior to his power of con-
1rol. that was gradually but surely
working it's will around and about him.
the feeling was not one of fear. What,
indeed, was he to be afraid of? Surely
not of the storm, for he was cozily
housed. Not the thieves or marauders,
for he and the coast guardsmcn were
the only human beings on that strip of
beach. Of what, then, was he fearful?
1t was all nonsense, he said-he was not
afraid at all.
Baxton shivered as he threw another
piece of driftwood on the fire and drew
closer to the green-blue blaze of the
unprecedented timber that cast fan
tastic, many-hued shadows on the
rough walls. mo going back to the
mainland tonight" he thought, as the
picture of the storm-lashed bay rose
before his mind, and he silently oh.
Jurgated the secretary of the treasury
who had promulgated the order for.
bidding the life-saving men to entertain
guests in their coy stations
The tea chest was filled with old
newspapers, the officer had said, with
which he might, perhaps, while away an
hour. He lifted the lid. Yes-so il
asas-prints running back for MANI
years, tied up and labeled in a cramped
handwriting-that of Calamity Dicks,
probably, the fisherman who, until his
death last year, had occupied this cabin
since no man remembered when. Turn |
ing them over, Baxton saw that the
packets contained clippings descrip-
tive of the wrecks on this same stretch
of sand, called Coffin beach-"Cemetery
beach would be better" Baxton thought,
rs he surveyed the yellow bundles.
Bark Excelsior, June. 1872" read ono;
40 drowned, two saved" "Ship andre |
'nache. January, 1913, 20 drowned, none
saved read another Ship Harold"
1o drowned. four saved; clipper Van
guard, SO drowned, Is saved" and so on
through pile of packages that reached
5xree high as he laid them on the floor.
Near the bottom was larger bundle
labeled "Clipper Bucephalus, MarcG,
1856, 100 drowned, four saved" Where
had he heard of that ship? 'Buceph-
ius-Bucephalus," he repeated, reflect
ireiy, to himself. "0h, yes, the ship the
old figurehead came from" and he
began TO unite the dusty package.
But slowly it came back TO him that
he hal heard the name before he came
10 Coffin beach. "Where?" AS he asked
the question newspaper, bearing the
date 1856, lay spread belore him, and
his eyes rested on the headlines: clip.
per Ship Bucephalus, Liverpool to New
York, Ashore on Coffin Beach, April
IS. The Inflated vessel, which was
owned by II. 3. BaXton & Co., - Front
street, this city, missed it's reckoning
and ran ashore on Coffin beach at
three o'clock on the morning of Tues
day last aud became total wreck.
The 'ife-saving crew at this place, one
of the most dangerous points on tie
coast, is not on duty at this season Of
fhe year. At ten o'clock on the follow
ing morning, before anything could be
done to rescue the crew and passen-
gers. he ship went to pieces in the