Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-08-20
Last Cruise of ~
'% the Mary Ann.
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CAPT. ELISHA HOPEWELL of the
u brig Mary Ann of Salem had been
repairing and repainting and making
his craft ready for a voyage to Lon
don and return. The year was 1856,
and boy and man he had been sailing
for over 80 years.
Although he had owned and COM
manded the Mary Ann for ten years,
she was by no means a new craft when
he got her. In making repairs he had
found many signs of weakness, and
as he finished his days work and
started for home his knees were stiff
end his back ached.
He reached his house,to find his wife,
Nancy, and supper waiting for him,
and as he took his seat at the table
he looked at her critically and for the
first time noticed that there were gray
hairs among the brown on her head.
elisha, have you lost your jack
knife or heard that your brother was
dead?" quietly asked Nancy after
awhile.
mo-" he answered, and followed the
word with a sigh.
"Mebbe we are comm down with
measles. Your mother says We never
had 'em as a boy"
"Mebbe l am he gloomily replied.
} Nancy waited three minutes to see
If he had an explanation, but as none
came she briskly said:
Now look here, Elisha, I know all
about it,, and I've been sort O. spectin'
this thing would happen any time.
You've been overhaulin' the Mary Ann,
and you've found she's growing old.
You've found out the same thing of
yourself, and you've suddenly seen it
in me. 1t has struck you all in a
heap, and you feel glum over it,"
Then, by Josh, you've hit it," ex-
claimed the captain, glad to have an
opportunity to talk it over.
wall, there amt no call to cry over
it," she continued. Ever since you
got this charter, I've made up my mind
that it would be our last VOYAGE
But how can it be, Nancy"
ut won't be so hard. We are purity
we'll Off fur common folks, Elisha. That
is, we've got enough money to start
you in ship chandlery, and we own our
W house and lot. No fear but what
We'll come out all right. We must give
up the sea to younger folks"
They talked it over for a couple of
hours, and it was fully decided that
when the Mary Ann returned to Sa-
lem her last voyage under Captain
Hopewell would be ended. Perhaps an
astrologer might have warned them
that there would be no homecoming
for the brig which had borne them
safely over so many leagues of ocean,
but there was no reader Of the future
at hand.
It got to be known over Salem that
Capt. Hopewell was making his last
voyage, and when the Mary Ann cast
off from the wharf there was a big
crowd at hand to cheer her departure
and wish her a safe return. She headed
out into the Atlantic on a summers
afternoon, and as the Massachusetts
shores faded behind them, Capt. Elisha
said to Nancy:
"By Josh, then, Nancy, but it seems
as If a piece of that beef we had fur
breakfast had got stuck in my throat
'It's a sort O. weakness of our feel
ms, Elisha" she replied as she turned
away toS wipe her eyes, "but I guess
we've decided for the best"
For a thousand miles, headed toward
the rising sun, the Mary Ann was
driven as she had never been driven
before. There wal a piping breeze, and
1t scarcely varied a point, and a third
of the run had been marked off when
there fell a fiat calm.
1t was noon when the wind died out,
and the man sent aloft reported the
ocean clear Of sail. AS shutdown came
the sea was like glass, and it was the
same state of affairs at midnight when
the watch was changed.
The mate went off and the captain
came on and he had been only on deck
half an hour when Nancy appeared.
She declared 1t to be too hot below tc
sleep.
In a calm midocean at night there
ere strange and uncanny sounds from
the hold Of a ship as she lazily heaves
up on the ground swell. Boxes and
barrels down in the hold rub each
other, bulkheads creak and timbers
groan, and now and then there are
shrill squeaks from the fighting rats
Men who sleep during a calm breathe
stentoriously and sigh and groan nov
and then, and the wakeful ones move
about increasingly and cast appre-
hensive glances over the sea.
Nancy walked aimlessly about fol
q while and then rested her arms OF
the rail and gazed off into the darkness
and let her thoughts wander bacl
home. She had been silent for {
quarter Of an hour when she gave ;
sudden start and bent her ear to listen
Capt. Elisha happened to note hel
attitude and he crossed over to hel
side and asked:
wall, Nancy, dye think anybody
will steal the woodpile while were
gone on this trip2"