Greene County herald., 1904-10-14

| IN P0AhPClO Wcul 1t ndQ COME
out OF silence and darkness back into
silence and darkness again The mer-
curry in the barometer rose to its nor
NAL level, and the next midday saw the
f-old Lincolnshire STOPPING and swaying
under every stitch that she could car
ry, beneath the cloud-dappled skies of
the region of the southeast trades. And
SO, day after day, we went north
eastward over the lonely sea till the
good wind began to die away into
puffs and varying breezes, and the
clouds Joined together into a dense
brown pail, and the rains came down,
and the waters that were above the
armament flowed in unceasing streams
into those that were below it.
After that we drifted with the cur
rents and were driven by sudden and
f1tful squalls from this quarter and
that into what is perhaps the most
ghastly and terrible region of the
world. the zone of equatorial calms.
The water is without a ripple, the
heavens without breath The tar
bubbles up between the planks, and
the drinking water gets warmer and
warmer, and the boiled pork and salt
morse grow more loathsome every day
and then other ships drift like
ghosts out Of the night into the same
area of elemental death, and so it
goes on.
But something else goes on also. and
| that is work. Now no good seaman
ever objected to work in its proper
time and seasons; but of all things alb
horrent to the real deepsea sailors
mind the most hateful is the sailors
| Eleventh Commandment.
Six days shalt thou work and do all
that thou art able,
And on the seventh holystone the
decks and scrape the cable.
regret to say that cur skipper was
one OF those misguided captains who
believed in this ordinance, and on the
first Sunday in the calms, which was
our sixth day in that dismal region.
he had the watches alternately work
ing at bending new sails and generally
getting ready for the run home. It
took whole Saturday and Sunday.
and when the work was over Bill
looked up at the newly bent sails and
| cursed them with solemn elouuence
which somehow seemed curiously suit
able to the miserable monotony of our
surroundings. But this was not held
among us in the forcastle for a good
omen. We had come to know that
when Bill cursed anything it gener
ally came to a bad end, and that is
just what these sails did.
Five days later we drifted out of the
doldrums and on the edge of the north
east trades, and then the good old shin
settled down to her work again. and
we went ripping across the short seas.
and on the second day fell into COM
pany with our long-lost sister ship. the
Somersetshire. Her we raced neck and
neck for two days and nights, and on
the third morning, just as she was
leading us by quarter of mile. we
saw her fore-tcpgallant-ma SWAY for
ward with one of her plunges and
come down amidst pillows of smoth-
ering canvas, and so we left her.
Nearly a fortnight later l was
awakened by the shrek of blast of
wind, heave of the ship which swung
my hammock nearly up to the beams.
three distinct bangs, as of great ar
tillery, then a ripping and tearing of
shattered canvas. and then Bills voice
just above the forecastle hatchway.
saying in tone of grateful regret
There go the shippers Sunday top
sails, blast them!"
Every man and boy was on deck in
an instant, and then began a hand-to-
hand struggle fer life or death be-
tween human skill and energy and the
suddenly aroused elemental forces,
which lasted for 81 hours on end S
For about u hours we drove along
to the southwark and eastward through
chaotic mingling of sea and mist
and rain, ominated by the ever louder
bowling wind. The sea was not rough.
1t had no time to be, for when a wave
upheaved itself its crest was cut off
by the wind as though by some huge
scythe and hurled in blast of sting
ing spindrift across the struggling.
staggering ship. and then the lashing
stcrm-driven rain beat it down again.
At daybreak it was shorten sail
again and heave her to- Everything
came off her except the close-reefed
main lower topsail, and then l was
sent with two others to lash a tar
pdulin on the weather mizzen rigging.
The object of this was to drive her
head up into the wind whenever she
payed off before it; in other words, to
keep her as nearly stationary as pos
sible.
This heaving to is a last resort but
one in a sailing ships fight for life out
in midocean. The other is to let her
drive before the gale still it blows it
self out. or she hits something that
ends her career for good and all. Then
before the end of the watch came the
dreaded order. Hands to the pumpsl"
"Blowed If | didn't think so," said
Bill, as we waded and hauled ourselves
aft along the swimming deck. This
old barkle will never see I)ungeness."
To which another old shallback re-
piled with a grcwl:
I'm Dutchman if think you will
anyhow"
And then we went at it, the mos
backbreaking and heartbreaking work
that sailor can do. For three hours
out of every four for the next two days
and night those pumps clanked, and
the bilge-pump on the lee side, with
which | made much too intimate ac-
guaintance. ratified and squeaked, and
still the carpenters face was longer
every time he took his ominous report