Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1904-08-25
"whew, This looks bad for us"

"Whew. This looks BAD Tor us.
swell, we're not caught yet by a long
sight, Talbot A good many leagues
will have to be sailed before we are
overhauled. and there's many Il slip
twist the cup and the lip. you know;
that old stale maxim is truer on the
sea than any place else. and tTGcr in a
chase too. A thousand things may help
us or hinder her. See. we are going
better now thai the reefs are ont aud
the topgallant sails set, but it's a fear.
full strain on our spars. They look
new; pray God they be good ones, he
continued, gazing over the side at the
masses of green water tossed aside
from the bows and sweeping aft under
the counter in great swirls.
The spars and rigging of the Mellish
were indeed fearfully tested, the masiS
buckling and bending like n strained
bow. The wind was freshening every
moment, and there vas the promise OF
a gale in the lowering sky of the gray
afternoon. The ship felt the increased
pressure from the additional sail which
had been made, and her speed had ma
terially increased, though she rolled
and pitched frightfully, wallowing
through the water and smashing into
the waves with her broad, fat bows
and making rather heavy weather OF
II. In spite of all this. however, the
chase gained slowly upon them until
she vas now visible TO the naked eye
from the decks of the Mellish. Sey-
mour, full Of anxiety. tried every ex-
pedient that his thorough seamanship
and long experience could dictate to
accelerate the speed of his ship-rath-
er a sluggish vessel at best and now,
heavily laden, slower than ever. h
stream anchors were cut away and
then one OF the bowers also; all the
boats save one, the smallest, were scut-
tied and cast adrift; purchases were
got on all the sheets and halyards and
the sails hauled fiat as boards and kept
well wetted down. Some of the water
tanks were pumped out to alter the trim
and tighten her, the bulwarks and rails
were partly cut away, and as a final
resort the maintop mast studding sail
> was set; but the boom broke at the
iron, and the whole thing went adrift
, in n few moments. Talbot, anxious to
do something. suggested the novel ex'
pedient Of breaking out a feldpiece
from the fore hold and mounting 1t or
the quarter deck to use as a stern
, chaser. This had been done. but the
/, frigate was yet too far away for II tC
be of n service.
, In spite OF all these efforts they were
being overhauled slowly, but Seymour
still held on and did not despair
There was one chance Of escape. Righ'
lay a long shoal known as George
= shoal, extending several leagues across
the path of the two ships. Through
: the middle of this dangerous shoa
" there existed a channel. narrow n
. t%ortuous, but still practicable for ship
Of q certain size. He was familia
; with its windings, as was Bentley, a
|, they both had examined ii CAREFUL,
: In the previous summer with a view
" to just such a contingency as now oC
e Cured. The Mell;sh was a large an
: clumsy ship. heavily laden and draw
: ing much water; but he felt confiden
70 that he could take her through tn
= pass. At any rate. the attempt wa
- worth making, and IL he did fail
- would be better to wreck her, b
II thought. than allow her to be RECAP
u tured. The English captain eithe
y knew or did not know Of the shoal an
y the channel. If he knew II, he woul
" have to make a long detour. for in n
. case would the depth of water In tn
~ pass permit "A heavy ship. as was tn
III pursuing vessel, to follow them. am
10 aided by the darkness rapidly closin
II down, the Mellish would be enabled
escape.
" If the English captain were a me-
III man on the station and ~unacquainte
r. with the existence of the shoal. as ws
u most likely-well. then he was apt
a lose his ship and all on board of III
De If he chased too far and too hard. I'll
IL problem resolved itself into this:
the Mellish could maintain her dlstanc
ne from the pursuer until 1t was neeessaI
)u to come by the wind for a short tao
and still have sufficient space and tin
left TO enable her to run up to Il
lg mouth of the channel without beiT
ty sunk or forced to strike by the ba
re teries of the frigate. they might escap
lr- II not-God help them all! thought Sc
an mour desperately; for in that event
ii, resolved TO run the vessel on the rocl
edge of the shoai at the pass mout
er and sink her.
a They were rapidly drawing dow
all upon the shoal at the point from whi'
they must come by the wind, on Il
no starboard tack. Some faraway ligh
is, on Cape Cod bad just been lighte
ed which enabled Seymour TO get b
la. bearing exactly. He had talked d
situation over quietly with Bentle
and they had not yet lost hope Of G
ice Gaping. The men had worked hal
lief and faithfully, carrying out the va
he GUS orders and tightening ship. al
ng now, having done all, some few we
Ter lying about the deck resting. while q