The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-02-28

L
zen-roya! yard, while the others went to
the mairroyal and fore-royal yards.
Four bells e o'clock had just struck,
when the man on the main-royal yard
sang OFT. Sail no, off port bow He
had scarcely finished when the lookout
On the fore royal yard sang out: Sails
directly in front of US, sir How
many?' called the mate Can't make
out. SIR was the reply. They were both
higher than I was and could see fur
Their
Captain Giles was on the quarter
deck when these sails We're sighted. In
less than twenty minutes all was fur
ry on board the Flying Childers. for
IN that time we had sighted twenty
three ships, all of 'em war vessels. They
were formed in two lines of battle, with
numbtr of frigates and old side wheel
steamers to windward and a few TO
leeWard. being what's called the eyes
or the feet
Orders We're sent aloft for us to re-
main where we were. and to keep a
watch on the fleet. Captain Giles then
called all hands on deck. Word was
passed to run up every stitch of car
such a will as this one. 1t weren t
many minutes before every sail, includ-
ing the studders,' was set The wind
was on cur starboard quarter She took
the bone in her mouth and went along
like scared duck. Our sails stood
out like boards. Captain Giles saw
to everything himself and 1 never knew
man who could be in more places at
one time. He was just as cool as if he
was on parade, but he took in every
movement of the enemy, and pilo.
the Two pilots we had taken on at Kiel
himself.
Every thing he had in the world was
in that cargo. He had mortgaged his
house and everything else, and his
brothers had done the same If he lost
it, it meant bankruptcy, aid success
meant fortune. l can tell you l
didn't envy those pilots. If they'd
showed the white feather he woudn t
have hesitated to pistol 'em.
FLEEING LIKE A RACE HORSE.
Our tactics was to hug the Fin
nish shore so that we could signal our
friends there or beach her if we had
to. When the ships sighted us they
were 20 the leeward, where we hoped
to keep them. At sight of us they m
mediately braced up and hauled On the
wind as close as they could, in hopes Of
cutting uc off. All of the British ships
were steamers except one ship called
the st. George. She carried 100 guns
and was in tow of a steamer, and
couldn't dc much.
Captain Giles saw their game. and
ordered the carpenter to take all of the
extra nastWedges out except four so
as TO give her spring, and that son-of-
a-gun of Flying Childers got goins.
like race horse. Not many men would
have risked loosening up the masts. but
Captain Giles was as smart a man as
ever sailed ship, and was practical
seaman. We had to loosen up the braces
and stays to give the masts play We
carried q tremendous amount of canvas
and the ship groaned under the strain.
While we were setting sails the
ships of the enemy kept working ur,
a little closer, and We could see the
men on the decks getting ready to send
Us to the bottom. One of the side
Wheeaers, called the Bulldog, and a frig-
ate, named the Dumbless took IN all
their spare canvas and hauled up as
close as they could to get in shooting
range. We could see them load the
guns. 1t seemed a long time to us.
and the thought of going to the boz
tom vas not pleasant. 1t was not until
eight bells Q2 o'clock that they got
within four miles of u.s. They wera
closing i'll on us gradually, but, thark
God, the wind kept as steady as could
be. We kept easing the rigging so as
to give the mast more play The old
ship was doing wonders. and the pilots
told the Captain that, Judging by land
marks along the shore, we were MAX
ing an average of sixteen knots an hour
ever since o'clock until 3 in the az
ternoon, and l firmly believe we did
She cut the water away abaft the fore
channels, and you could see a beard
just like the cutwater of a steamer
tell you, it makes my blood stand still
! almost whenever I thing of it now
THE SHOTS FELL SHORT.
1T was eight bells in the middle
watch-4 O'Clock in the afternoon
when the Dumbless opened fire on US
| She was then dead astern of US. not
| gaining an inch. Any shift or lull in
| the wind would have finished us in
twenty minutes. She was armed with
| long sixty lights. Her shots fell halt
| a mile short of US and as each was
fired our crew would cheer Then the
Bulldog pulled up and began to bark
| but ! think the firing did them harm
| for The recoil of their guns knocked
| them hack. | tell you it was an excir-
| ing chase, for, besides the chance of tne
| wind dying out or changing, we were in
| danger of capsizing from the amount
| of canvas we carried.
| 1T was happy sight when the forts
| at Croastadt We're sighted and when Nc
! saw the Russian gunboats and st
| frigates coming out to our assistance
| The greater part of the British fleet
| was already out of sight There were
few of their fast line of battle 3hips
| that did pretty well. but ii was only
! the lookout ships, such as the frigate
Dumbless and the Bulldog that kept
anywhere near US. BY six bells q
o'clock we We're pretty we'll UP TO the
| forts and the Russians met us All
the time they were getting ready the
Britisners We're following us, and if the
wind mad not kept steady as ii did we
would have been gone. As we neared
the forts, one of them, which had some
long-range guns, opened fire on the
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