The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1898-10-13

were supplied, but the Arab commo-
dore, having come in a large dingey,
was able to carry away the entire sup
ply.
He then saluted the English officer
with studied politeness. and thank
ing him, descended into his boat.
Half an hour passed by, and soon
our men were piped to breakfast.
1t SO happened this day lit was Sat
urday) was set apart for the weekly
cleaning of the lower deck: it was
called slower deck day" among US
for'ard, The little Viper, like most
crafts of her tonnage, carried only one
deck below, and this was of tbe nature
denominated flying lower deck
that is, it was composed entirely of
matches which rested on cross pieces,
of carlines and beneath it we're stow
ed all the gear and purser's stores.
When the lower deck was about to
be cleaned, the first order given was,
up all lower deck hatches;' and they
were carrid up above to be scrubbed
of course. all the arms and mess gear
were also passed mp, and the men that
day always had their meals on deck
10 everything but comfort, though
somehow the Viper's boys never cared
about the discomfort l suppose we
were accustomed to it;though in truth,
| think sailors nowadays are not such
a hardy race as they used to be when
l was boy.
1t is now the fashion to pet and
spoil your sailors as your soldiers. l
enter into particulars for an object,
as it turned out that if it had not
been ''lower deck day" matters might
have gone rather differently with the
bonny little Viper.
The lower deck matches had been
PASSED up. the sails had been loosed
to dry-which was another peculiar
feature of the day-snd the sailors
had all gone to breakfast to refresh
the inner man before the days work
Of scruhLing and ''holystone" every
thing that could be made to look
cleaner and more shipshape by the
process.
The men squatted about the deck
ia messes, each mess with It's bright
array of tin pots and pannikins, and
buckets with brass hoops containing
the tea
Jack was enjoying himself accord
ing to his wont, cracking together
his Jokes and his hard, weevily bis
cults, and washing down the mixture
with copious draughts of the liquid
that cheers but not ineLrIates, though
from the bottom of his heart he en-
tertained the wish, to which he fre
quently gave utterance, that The
weak tea could be transposed into po-
tent "Jamaiky," when he would both
cheer and be inebriate.
Suddenly cry was raised.
The dhows are under way, and
standing toward u.s. and the quar-
termaster, who gave utterance to it,
sprang down below to the officers,
who were breakfasting together in
the wardrOom.
There was an uprising of every man
on deck, about which the messes were
scattered; messkit was thrown on one
side, and we all rushed to the side to
see what was in the wind. There,
sure enough, was bearing down upon
us the whole squadron of dhows.
No doubt could be entertained of
their intention, for not only were they
steering for us. but their decks were
crowded with the pirauical crews, who,
all armed to the teeth for boarding,
we're even now filing the air with
shouts and yells of triumph. In an
instant our officers came tumbling up
from below. Lieut. Carruthers shout.
ed out, "All hands make sailr' and,
himself springing forward, cut the
cable by which we were anchored
With the presence of mind of a
brave man and the instinct of true
seaman, he knew that the primary
consideration was to get the ship I'M
der sal, for then he could bring his
superior seamanship and the smart
ness of his men as elements into the
contest. Providentially, the sails
were at the time loosed to a "bow-
line" so that they could be expedi-
tiously sheeted home and hoisted up.
With the perfect discipline of old
men O wars men we all repaired to
our stations for making sail, and in
less thar one minute from the time
of the order being given by our com
manding officers, the foretopsail was
travelling UP the tOpmast, while the
topgallant sheets were nimbly hauled
through the sheaves as the yard went
up, SO that no unnecessary delay
might ensue in setting the topgallant
sail. The forecsstle men were at the
same time hosting away the jihs and
the foret opmast staysail, and other
hands had hauled down the foretack
and sheet, so that directly the lieu
tenant commanding cut the cable
with a tomahawk the brigantine fell
off the wind and began to gather away.
The quarterInaster had seized the
tiller-the Viper had no wheel-an1
kept the ship before the wind some
time after sail had been made. All
this time the gunner and his mate
had opened the magazines and were
passing up the cartridges, while the
former warrant officer, pressing into
service the ships cook and a couple
of native officers servants, made
them hand up the round shot prepa-
ratory to opening fire.
The result of all this smartness
and forethought was that, as soon as
sail was made on the little Viper, she
was in position to open fire on the
enemy.
We were safe; but, oh! how nearly
we had trod the gloomy confines that
separate life from death was shown
to us with fearful distinctness by the
light of the flashes of the pirates
guns, as they opened fire upon us
with all the cannon at their command
One minutes more delay or indeci
sion and we would have been massa
cred to man by an enemy who never
gave or expected quarter
TO your guns, menp' now cried onl
youthful captain; and quickly tbs
half-dozen carronades of the cruiser