The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09

There are ships with good and evil repu-
tations independent OF the men who own
or sail them. Some it would seem had their
suredly Built l. tn eclipse and rugged with
curses dark
Many have furrowed all the seas of ocean
and have lost no lives, and have cost
neither owners nor underwriters money.
But some there are land those who follow
the sea will know them) which have never
achieved a single passage without being
nearly cast away. without killing or maim-
ing men. For such a ship the very shoals
themselves decrease in depth through the
unIucky set of some abnormal tide: for
them the trades spring up far south and die
IN premature calm ten degrees from the
line. They are well built and highly classed,
and yet spring leaks. Derelicts lay wait
for them; they are chased through every
sea by cyclones and tornadoes. In them the
luck of lucky men is finally of no avail:
seamen fall from aloft in Gains; the gear
gives without notice; stores rot in spite of
care. They break the heart of all who have
TO do with them; in them blood is suddenly
split; in them strong men waste and die
Such a ship was the Pandora, and as she
Ia at anchor in Hobsons bay, off Sand
ridge, there was not sailorman in Aus
traia who would have shipped iii her from
choice.
I've heer the skipper of one ship I was
in talk about the nature of vessels" said
Jack Marchmont. as he sat with his mate
on the end of the pier, land he allowed
that ships was like men, launched with
nat'raI dispositions. He talked a lot of
scientific CUFF about deviation, and what
he said was as ships had this or that de-
Walton according how their heads was
pinted on the stocks. If she p'inted SOU
west she played quite a different game with
the compass to what she would have done
II she had laid nor'east. And believe him.
The Pandora must have p'inted straight
for the pit. joe"
''She is a bad 'un, I own" said his mate
'but it amt matter of chico. Ships is
few and men is plenty. and it's a case of
John get up and let Jack sit down with
you and me- If she was wuss ship than
she is, and a wetter Though there amt a
wetter). and IL she killed as many as the
plague, I amt goin' to work Tom Cox's
traverse ashore any more. And there amt
no beer in the scuttle-butt, neither, and
Bailey looks at us as black as black. I'm
goin' to ship"
And Joe Bennett rose.
II amt got farden to jingle of a tomb
stone" he said.
Mark me-" said Jack. gloomily, you'll
never have no tombstone IL we ships in the
Pandora. 'Tain't her way to run any mans
relatives into that expense"
But Joe shrugged his shoulders.
''Mebbe this trip'll break her luck. And
you've got to ship along. cause why? We've
on'y one chest atween the two OF us. Cheer
up. old son. Why. I'd ship in the Leander.
and they say she killed and drowned
seventy men in five years. Blow me, I've
got to the pint that I'd ship in bloom
ing diving-bellT'
And three days later the two men. with
twelve others, who were just as deep in
debt TO the boarding house keepers, signed
on for the Pandora, bound for London.
They went on board that very night. The
mates kept a keen eye on them; they knew
the ships reputation, and more than once
men who had come on board at night had
disappeared by the morning. The first few
hours in any ship. as in any other kind Of
work are the most trying, and the first
sight OF a damp and empty foc'sle Is for
ever discouraging. And all the Pandora s
crowd from London had skipped in Mel
bourne.
'.And right they was" said more than
one of the new crowd, "for one of them
was killed and two was drowned, and an
other will walk lame for the rest of his
life"
But when the sun came up over the low
brown hills to the eastward and the day
light danced upon the landlocked waters of
the great bay, they turned to- with more
cheerful hearts. The summer had spent
two Of its golden months, but the sky was
clear and a warm north wind blew. The
ship was clean, and yet not too clean. 1t
did not suggest the interminable, intoler-
able labor of American ship, all brass
and bright work. And as the new crew
hove up the anchor they found the windlass
was no heart-breaker.
"Give it her, boys" said the mate And
they slapped the brakes up and down with
a will.
At reckon the crowd aft are pretty de-
cent" said Joe, as he jumped up aloft to
loosen the foretopsail. "Oh, L dessay she
amt 'arf bad
And. as the crew allowed. there was little
TO complain of about the way the Pandora
was found.
she amt like our last Ship was Joes
comment. Every time she 1t sea out OF
the common she'd shake shear poles off of
'er dog shakes water
But Jack Marchmont was not consoled.
II amt denyin' that the owners and the
old man do their BEST" he said, but II
they rove silk gear and silk sails they'd not
alter the nature of her. I'll feel safe when
1 grinds gravel under my heels. And not
till then"
They told each other dolorous tales Of the
ship when they ate, and in the second dog
watch. which was all their own. And yet
the wind was fair and put them through
BASIS strait and well to the south and east
day by day.
Its too good to last" said Jack
Aft much the same feeling existed, though
no one knew IL for'ard. Yet Captain Ray
ner was a melancholy man, and seemed
very soft 10 those whom luck had ever sent
TO sea with American shipmasters. He had
sailed three voyages in the Pandora, and
had read the burial service every passage
Once he had read it TO the devouring sea as
grave, when five men had gone at once