The Republican journal., 1901-03-14
A VOYAGE IN THE FIFTIES,

An Old.time Seafarer Relates Some of His
Experiences.
Perhaps some of the readers of The
Journal would like to hear story now
about 80 years old. At least, it hap
pened in 1852, three years before the
first sewing machine, which was little
machine turned by a crank, and eleven
years before the first moving machine
came into Prospect. Why [ happened
to think to write the story was be-
cause one-half of the crew who were in
the vessel met at the store in Stockton
village the last time | was there. The
vessel was the bark j. B. johnson,
launched from William McGilvery' s
yard in 1852 The officers and crew
were as follows: Capt Everett Staples;
mate, Davis Thompson, second mate,
Aleck Seger; and six boys, none over
20 years of age, from Searsport and
Stockton, or rather from Prospect, made
up the crew-Ralph Morse, Charles
Rendell, Edwin Nichols, William Ford,
Henry Seger, and Freeman Partridge.
The cook came by the way of some
shipping office and | do not recall his
name. He responded always to the
name of cook and filled all require
ments satisfactorily. Three of the
crew of six boys met the last time |
was in Stockton-Morse, Rendell and
the writer. One of them, Nichols, we
have not seen or heard from in all ou1
~ years on farm since. After the
voyage in the bark, Ed. and the writer
shipped with Capt Levi Crockett in
the topsail schooner Mars Hill, and
went to Cardenas and back to Philadel
phia, then with coal to Boston aud
home to SearspOrt, where the captain
had new vessel building. Nichols has
not figured in any happenings i'll Sears
port since, SO far as have heard. Three
men living out of six in fifty years is
better than the average, and nearly
everybody at so and 60 can look back
and cite cases among their friends and
acquaintance where one or two in ten
is all there is left.
Now we will get back to the bark and
give some of the happenings and things
seen on the voyage from Bangor with
long lumber to Berbice, South America
or rather the Spanish Main, so called
in those days The bark among so many
smaller craft at that time loomed up
big, with her two royals and five stay
sails between the mast, with lower and
upper studdingsails and booms. Her ton
mage was $50 tons. We cannot remem-
Der anything to relate of the common
every day routine of the 2S-days pas
sage. During 1G days of that time not
a vessel was sighted, but perhaps that is
common affair. The coast of British
Guiana is very low, with a shoal mud
bank laying off almost out of sight of
the low land. Although the lead was
kept going the vessel struck the bottom
when almost out of sight of land. But
the sea was smooth and it was low
water and she swung to her anchor,
and after the tide rose she sailed off and
boarding a little droger that was run
ming 40 miles to leeward to Demerara a
mud pilot was found who took the YES
sci in until the branch pilot came on
board, who worked the vessel in by
sailing; beating, backing and filling up
the narrow channel to Berbice in about
the same way that the old pioneer pilot
Richard Heagan used to beat a ship
through Buckspolt narrows.
Berbice then could boast of no very
large public buildings or palatial resi-
dences, but might be classed as sparce-
ly settled black settlement, with a few
whites. The garrison sported the black
man in military array, and the laboring
black man if he could get a job was
paid 30 cents day; but, as III most of
the tropical places, there were ten men
who did not get work where there was
one who did. The kipling poem, Take
up the white mans burden sounds
good in the temperate zone, far away
from the tropics and darker people;
and many people far removed from the
blacks have high aspirations to do great
deeds for the race, but it dwindles
strangely when they get among them.
At that time there was no law for the
black man. If the employer felt in the
mood he would pay them, as some times
it was good policy to do so; but if not he
would kick them and away they would
go. Among the things seen from the
vessel, just up the wharf to the left,
was the school for the little black girls
and boys. The schoolmarm sported all
the clothing material in the school,
Just across the road from the school
house was partly painted, yellow, one
story house, with piazza around it.
with a sloping grass patch in front
where a motherly old goat with a pail
of kids were brushing off flies and crop
ping the grass. Farther up the negro
houses were slowed corner-ways, end
ways and sideways from the road. Ii
the other direction, in the more swell
To CURE A COLD IN ONE DAY.