Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-10-25
TbeLast Watch
onthe Empress"
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Strained. tempest buffeted. leaking
at dozen seams, her roretopmast
gone, her yards splintered, her sails
IN rags, and with four feet of water
in her lower hold, the old bark
Empress, three weeks overdue with
a cargo of rice from Calcutta, came
lurching heavily into the lower har-
Dor through the. fog of the May af
ternoon.
At her wheel stood the captain, and
amidships two wearied swedes were
pumping desperately. Brushing aside
pilot boats, tugs and quarantine
steamer, needless of the hoarse warn
ings screeched from half-dozen met
al threats, she made straight for the
crescent of Hospital Bank, and there
ran hard and fast aground.
AS she settled she made bed for
herself in the soft mud, so that when
the tide left her she stood nearly up
right.
During the next week her rat-rid-
died cargo was l,Chtered out. Then
her owners weighed its fate in coun-
Gil and their verdict was, "Strip and
burn" For five days more the swarm
ing ringers worked havoc with knife
and Ratchet and marlinspike, until,
on Friday afternoon. the, decks were
6 Uttered with food for the junk shop
and the oakum factory. esd the three
masts rose bare of their fafn!!iar ira
Gerry OF rope and spar.
AT three o'clock on that very Fri
day, Emerson Hardy. Just turned
twenty-five, licensed engineer of the
gasoline launch belonging to Smith Il
Cutcliffe, the firm that owned the
bark, had finished cleaning up his
boat, after a short trip, and had
moored 1t securely off the foot of the
landing stairs. The machinery need
ed some repairs. so for two or three
days his craft would be out of com
mission.
He had not the slightest objection,
therefore, when his employers asked
him to act as Waterman for single
might in place of the colored steward.
who had for the past ten days stood
grand over the, vessel, but who had
that morning sailed on fruit ship
bound for Jamaica. Smith & Cutcliffe
knew well that the bark was safe
from harbor thieves SO long as the
engineer had charge of 1T.
1t was already dark. and dense
fog blanketed the day, when the tug
Orion, on its way out to watch all
night for incoming vessels, steamed
up close to the Empress to set Hard,
on board. He scrambled up the low
side. and was on deck in moment.
Don't let the rats eat you up En-
erson:" CALLED out the pilot, as tn,
tug swung away. "1'll give you cal
in the morning on the way in, to SEE
II you are all there"
Hardy flung back a jest in reply
The-first things he did after the Orio,
had vanished in the mist and its dis
tant putting died down to an asthmat
ic whisper, were to light his lanter
and load his revolver. Then h
Strengthened up and looked abou
him.
The bark was entirely dismantled
Her ragged sails were bundled ur
the cordage lay along the deck i
coils and lines. extending from tn
cabin top forward. In short, the We;
sci had been stripped of everything @
value in preparation for the fina
trips Of the lighter. The only spo
above decks not covered with debri
was the roof of the forcastle.
With the advance of night the fo
grew thicker. Back and forth pace
the engineer. He consulted his watch
1t was eight o'clock. He came to
stop near the end of the cabin, wher
the ships bell hung tongueless.
The fancy came to him to strik
the hours upon it, as if he wer
keeping watch during an ocean voy
age; 1t would break the monotony O
his light. With rusty iron marlin
spike, picked up from the deck, n,
beat out eight clear, silvery note
from the sea-mellowed brass.
The night wore on. Every thirt.
minutes Hardy paused near the bin
nacle. and the bell pealed out 1T
warning beneath his vigorous arm
one stroke at half past eight, tw,
at nine. and SO on.
But the hours moved slowly. HI
was just on the edge Of the channel
and up to midnight there was plent,
Of neutrality-suspicious., freigh
tiers. tugs towing lines of barges; h
could hear and tell them all, although
the fog hid them from view. Toward
twelve o'clock they thinned out. an,
1t would have been lonely enough OF
the deserted hulk but for the rats
They We're present in scores, great