The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-04
NV First Shipwreck.
"a narrative of fact from Cornhilrs. I
Four Parts.)

Less have merchant ships yarn, CANT
We? We've had enough whaling this trip
Thus adjured I took up my parable, not
without msgivings as to the reception
such commonplace yarn as mine would
have among these seasoned adventures
On my first voyage / sailed with an IN
Gle who was master of an old barrel-bei-
lied hooker like this. called the Mary Ann
We had discharged at Demerara, and,
being too leaky to ship sugar, were bun
died off TO that last refuge of the unfoItn-
nate, the Gulf Of Mexico, for mahogany.
[ don't know how it was worked, but We
were so long getting our freight at the
various roadsteads we called at that be-
fore we were loaded the ''norther" season
arrived. Those tremendous gales gener-
ally dispose of a goodly number of old
rattle-traps sent there for that purpose,
as the Mary Ann undoubtedly was.
Now my uncle was just man, though
a thought too handy with his rope's-end
for my liking, and he didn't want TO have
me on board when the crash came So
he asked an old friend commanding a
grand barque. called the Discoverer, to
give me a passage home, as he was just
about to sail. There was no difficulty
about the transfer of such a midget as L
was and the next day saw me a memoer
of the DISCOVERIES crew.
She was indeed a noble vessel, built for
the purpose of Arctic research, of the
best materials, and strengthened in every
way that experience could suggest, rugged
and found regardless of expense. 1 have
often wondered since how ever she came
came to be on the Mexican coast, where
few vessels Of her stamp were ever seen
in those days. She was well manned, too,
ana only half her crew We're foreigners,
which was remarkable. The skipper, who
may be still a-fishing, will only call Cap.
s., in case of accidents. He was a good
man, a good seaman, and wonderfully
kind withal, but with grog at hand he
couldn't keep sober if his life depended
or it.
The morning after I joined. we got un-
der way at daybreak, so as to get a
good orfing before dark, but even at that
early hour the old man had been paying
his respects to the bottle so frequently
that he was comfortably drunk. IL he'd
only been uncOmfortably drunk he might
have Kept out Of the way; but as it was,
ne was a nuisance, Numbering about like
an amiable loOny, getting in everybody's
way. and hindering operations generally.
We'd got the anchor up and Gated"
but as the mate wanted to get the rags
on her, we Just left the anchor hanging
by the catTachle without passing the ring
stopper, the fall being stretched across
the deck and made fast. We got the to-
gall2nt-s'ls on her, and she was making
about four knots, when there was the
most internal racket forrard you ever
heard-the old man had been and let go
the anchor. My! you should just see
that cable fly over the windlass. Every
last link was on deck, 120 fathoms on
each side, the ends shackled together
round the foremost. We were off the
bank in twenty-five fathom water, and,
going at a rate 1 have mentioned, there
was no chance of stopping the flying
chain. Jump on it, yells the mate.
Jump on it yourself says the fellows;
why. you're as bad as the old man him.
self" So it ran out to the last link. Ev
cry man was praying that it would car
ry away, but, like the rest of her gear,
it was too good for that, and it swung
her round into the wind, bringing her up
all standing. And there stood the skip
per with his finger in his mouth, looking
like a bat at noon, and trying to figure
out what was the matter.
Swearing didn't mend matters although
there was enough done to sink the ship
if oaths were pounds. Not another hands
turn would men do that day; they de-
clared they'd want all their energies for
next day to get her under way again.
old fellow went to his bunk, so the chaps
had it all their own way. Even the sails
were left hanging in the gear; and pref
ty mess there would have been if it had
come on to blow. Next morning we made
another start, the skipper, drunk as usual,
but sufficiently wise to keep his own end
of the ship. 1t was an awful job, and If
the mate hadn't got a demijohn of rum
out Of the old mans berth, which kept
the chaps in good humor, there'd have
been mutiny, sure. However, we got
away again by noon-this time for good.
Well, it's always been a mystery to me
how some ships get out and home again,
for I've been in some queer ones, but
nothing short of a miracle could ever
have got that ship home again. In the
daytime, routine work went on fairly reg
ular. but at night the ship was pretty
well left to go her own way. The sec
ond mate was laid up, being crippled by
a log of timber in Santa Anna, and the
skipper was supposed to keep his watch.
His idea CT watch-keeping was a splendid
one. He used to turn out when the mate
called him, and "freshen the nip" with
Uwo or three stiff tots of grog; then he'd
lay down on the poop and die-at least
he might as well have been dead for all
the "savvy'' you could get into him. This
kind OF thing suited his watch down to
the ground, they didn't want anything
better. But it couldn't last, everybody
knew that.
We'd been laundering on like this for
about a fortnight-lovely weather all the
time when one night I was awakened
by tremendous kicking at the door of
the little after-cabin where I slept with
the steward He was awake and told
me to get out and see what was UP. Up
.
man looking scared out of life, and shout
ing: THE ships ashore, the ships
ashore! Where's the skipper" l laugh
ed at him, but a sudden bump and jolt,
unlike anything l had ever felt before.
laid me fat and knocked all the laugh
out of me at once. Joe said he had been
leaning over the wheel thinking. /. e., fast
asleep, when the wheel spun round and
nearly knocked his brains out. and the
next thing he knew she was humping like
this
There wasn't a man awake in the ship
There was no lookout, no watch on deck
in fact, they didn't know whose watch
it was. I found the skipper. lying fat
on his back on the poop, and It took me
fully ten minutes TO wake him. 1 only
succeeded then by pulling a handful OF
hair out of his head. Then he lifted him
self halfway UP. and said: Wash mar
rer?" I yelled: The ships ashorei the
ships ashore. sir" At last the words, of
such dreadful import TO seaman, seem
ed TO penetrate the thick armor of dull
ness around his poor brain, for he rose
staggeringly 10 his feet, saying in low
voice, but distinctly, Call all hands -
They're all waiting for you, sir l re-
piled very promptly. q ring OF eager faces
surrounding Us furnishing instant proof
OF the statement. He passed his hand
=, fi~ed fashion o--ar his faro md +,a,