Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-10-25
TheLast Watch
onthe Empress"
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES


Strained, tempest-buffeted leaking
at a dozen seams, her roretopmas1
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
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
1ngs 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 a 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 llghtered out. Their
her owners weighed it's fate in coun
oil and their verdict was, strip and
burn" For five days more the swarm
ing riggers worked havoc with knife
and hatchet and marlinspike, until
on Friday afternoon, the decks were
Uttered with food for the junk shoI
and the oakum factory, and the three
masts rose bare of their fafnsliar 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 &
Cutcliffe, the firm that owned the
bark, had finished cleaning up his
boat, after short trip, and had
moored it 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 a single
might in place of the colored steward
who had for the past ten days stood
grand over the vessel but who ha(
that morning sailed on a fruit shiI
bound for Jamaica. Smith & Cutclifft
knew well that the bark was safe
from hsrbor thieves so long as the
engineer had charge of it.
It vas already dark, and a dense
fog blanketed the day, when the tus
Orion, on its way out to watch all
night for incoming vessels, steamed
up close to the Empress to set Hardy
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 The
tug swung away. "I'll give you a 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 Orion
had vanished in the mist and it's dis
taft putting died down to an asthmat
10 whisper, were to light his Lantern
and load his revolver. Then hi
Strengthened up and looked abou
hiIn.
The bark was entirely dismantled
Her ragged sails were bundled UP
the cordage lay along the deck il
coils and lines, extending from the
cabin top forward. In short, the YES
sci had been stripped of everything o
value in preparation for the fina
trips Of the lighter. The only spo
above decks not covered with debris
was the roof of the forcast1e.
With the advance Of night the 70!
grew thicker. Back and forth pace
the engineer. He consulted his watch
It 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 il he wer
keeping watch during an ocean voy
age; 1t would break the monotony G
Ills light. With a 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 biz
nacle, and the bell pealed out it
warning beneath hts vigorous arm
one stroke at half past eight, tw
at nine, and so on.
But the hours moved slowly. H
was just on the edge of the channe
and up to midnight there was plent
be NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., freigl
ters, tugs towing lines of barges; h
could hear and tell them all, althoug
ne fog mid them from view. Towar