The Republican journal., 1904-09-22
UNLUCKY SHIPS.

am not going to say that l believe
in luck by any means, but l do know,
and everybody knows, that with some
vessels, from the time they are launch
ed until they find grave somewhere
on the shores of the Atlantic, their ex-
istence has been one continual mess of
scrapes and accidents. Now if one crew
was aboard all the time it might be said
it was due to bad management, but as
crews are continually changing, with no
better results, | cannot see how we can
get out of blaming the ship. l have
been on two of these vessels myself,
and | thought a few of the scrapes that
| had seen might interest the readers
of the Bee.
1t was in the month of February, 1880,
that shipped on the schooner Jennie
r. Morse, Capt. Anderson, bound to
Savannah with load of guano. When
! went aboard there was only one sailor
on the vessel and when we became
acquainted | found he was an Irish
man, named Patrick p Shane. Every
body called him Paddy for short.
soon found out that Paddy was very
superstitious, for he began to tell me
that the last captain of the vessel died
aboard, and that the vessel had nothing
but bad luck since. | noticed a broken
topmast lying on deck and asked Paddy
where they picked it up. Faith, we
didn't pick it up at all, shure it came
from a|oft when we We're coming from
Salem" | said it must have been blow
ing good breeze. BE gob," said Pad
dy, 1T was calm as clock" "Well,
that is rather strange to carry away a
topmast in calm" | said. Paddy
came close to me and whispered in my
ear, Faith there is lots of things
strange on board of this ship
Next day the rest of the crew came
aboard, and after hard days work we
hove up anchor, and with the wind
northwest soon left Boothbay far be-
hind. 1t was extremely cold, and not
being used to such weather | was very
poorly prepared in the shape of rubber
boots and mitts, for | had neither.
Everything went well, the watches had
been set and it was my first watch on
deck. How | wished for u o'clock to
come, for was both tired and almost
chilled through. ] realized the truth
of these words:
o. who can tell the joy he feels,
tie Ull lIle ludW HIS Vessel leelS
He hears the call of larboard watch, ahoy!
| heard eight bells strike and answer
ed with the bell forward, and then
Jumped down to call the watch. The
men were just coming out of the fore
castle, when there was tremendous
crash up aloft, and looking up, we saw
what we most dreaded, the foretopmast
had carried away and was hanging by
Va viz no !,
sail We're trailing under the bow, with
all the wire head stays. That was a
hard nights work for us. I never eX-
perienced harder one in my life. After
working all night saving the sails and
gear, inch by inch, by morning We
must have looked more like dead men,
for | felt like one anyhow. They de-
cided that my watch should go below
for a couple of hours rest. When ! got
into the forecastle my feet were just
like two rocks. l had not the least
feeling in them. | had tight pair of
leather boots on and to get them off
took me long time: finally, | got them
off and my feet began to thaW out by
the heat frem the stove; then L found |
had frozen my feet. | can't find words
to express the pain suffered. The read
ct may have some idea when | tell them
that ! got a man to draw me pail of
water to put my feet in and III little
While the vapor would rise on it from
the fever in my feet. | didn't come on
deck again on that vessel until we got
Il savannah, where | went straight to
the hospital.
The doctors thought | was going to
lose some of my toes, but by good at
tendance and much care | came out all
night. | didn't expect to ever join that
schooner again. but in about four weeks
capt. Anderson came to see me and
wanted me to 60 with him again. and as
he lad always been kind to me | could
not refuse SO now as | was able to do
Light work | went back to the ship.
The vessel had been discharged and was
going to Brunswick to load hard pine
for place called Pysanda. 300 miles up
the Rio de la Plata, and as Brunswick
was but a short distance the captain
thought he would sail down, although
We were flying light. We got out to
sea when it became perfectly calm, and
the next day a tug coming along the
captain made a bargain to tow us to
brunswick. About O'Clock that even
ing, as we were having a nice time be-
low. we felt a shock that knocked us all
5PioN mig VA VIC QClh. anu uedIu oil
awful crash; the schooner was UP on a
sand bar and the other TWO topmasts
were carried away by the conclusion.
1t was also high water, and if it had
happened to blow that night the
schooner would not have been worth
much the next morning. How the tug
struck that bar is more than | can tell.
She was drawing more water than we
were, and we came near running right
on top of her With the three topmasts
gone she looked sorry looking vessel,
and the captain said he wished he had
never seen her and had his money in
his pocket, l began to think there was
some truth in the statement that Paddy
made; anyhow, | saw enough to con-
vince me that she would class well un-
der the head of unlucky vessels. The
captain went ashore-he didn't have
far to go as we were almost in the
bushes, and sent for two towboats, and
the next day at high water we got off
and got safely to Brunswick where we
tied up to the wharf and hoped all our
troubles were over. So we all turned
in after lots of yarns had been told
about unlucky vessels and took good
nights rest. Early the next morning
we were awakened by Paddy care you