Evening journal., 1901-06-29
HOW GOOD SHIP INDEPENDENCE
RAN DOWN A PIRATE CREW

When ne came rolling into the Evening
Journal Office one scented a story. lie
still had his sea-legs. and n occasional
easy .urch bespoke a recent release from
the f)recastle.
lie ran his hand through the fringe OF
rel whislSers which wreathed his facc.
hitched up his trousers and hailed ".
The voice escaping from the cayernous
depths had breath Of the fog in It, but
1t was hearty and mellow wlsaal.
"And is the captain aboarI?" he eskes.
When assured that he mgat be found on
the Quarterback. wherever that may he,
he urched In. scrambled into a chair and
began:
NY mates was a shown rae yer paper.
an readin' as how ths;e mas teen a
race on the river between the Diamond
State and the good ship CITY of Chester.
Some bos'n mate of yours, captain. has
been splnnin a yarn aboL. races On the
river in the early days; wall. no)d my
scuppersl but It want no.n'R' 10 n Little
trip tuck once in the good ship Jn1ercn-
dence
you see II was this way; NE We're oruis-
in around in the channel and oEe sfter-
noon about four bells we found Ourselves
just inside the straits of Dover. Tkc Tind
had Died out till there wasn't enough TO
Zap pennant. so we hauled her t.. drop
red anchor, and went ashore.
l;eatin' around the doc <s about mid
Eisht ] run across the 9uce.est craft I
O. 9 sot eyes on. She was clipper built
sLd had long raking masts. ana her hull
VAS painted black. hal sce1 - nethin'
hAa her in Inc China sea, .nt Aa.. lensEc'i
that they was the klS Of ctait TO steer
ciear Of.
She was anchored a lite 60: 10 the
stream. and everything on ,boari Was as
black as the hold OF chi ,'e jtnk.
"Byen bye they came swaSgssinE Down
the beach a little Chinese nui irst ihing
knowed he run plumb 'nto me Hello.
my heartys says l. Hello y'scs,' says
he, Well. before I could get rid of that
heather he made me an offer to go on his
ship, an as / was sort OF curious about the
lubber. ] engaged then an then.
II hadn't been on board ten minutes
before, says !, she's a pirate all right.
and then ! kept my ears open. She was
bound on a cruise and her owner was on
board. The feller who had been a jawln'
me was the captain, a little man as bald
as an Chinese ever gets; why there wasn't
enough hair left for a decent cue, and so
he had cut It on
There was an old sail hangip' over tha
stern hidin' the name, but / slipped aft
and raised Il up and read the name: The
Looterfrom Nowhere. Bound to Perdat,on.'
Well, when | read them words a cold chill
run down my spine and I stumbled and
fell over the steam winch, which brought
the crew running
Il had seen enough, and watchin' my
opportunity / slid down the anchor-chains
and dropped into the water. and pretty
soon I was back on the independence
tellin the captain all about It.
1T want long till the fog began to
lift. and we could SEQ the crew Of the
pirate runnin' over the decks and be-
ginnm TO make sail, an our captain says
kind OF grim like, well, ef she's bound to
perditlon, I'll foller and see that she
reaches her destination
80 we hove anchor and drifted dowr
behind her, and pretty soon her hull
loomeG up just on our starboard quarter
The captain takes the trumpet and sing.
out; what ship is that? She made nc
answer. but we could see them crowdin
on sail.
80 We raised our foregallant topsal anS
began TO pun after her tell you we was
a cuttin' water, the spray was rollin
over our bows. and the masts a strainin'
but we give her her head and never los
an inch.
zone thing we noticed. that she wa!
/