Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-08-03
Tile srowAwAYs' LESSON,
Ana VIVA, Il Also laugh, the Hard Hearted
CAPTAIN.

|aaH and
Captain III smson o. the tramp steamer rear
-. ia was nade o. iron throughout eA'
-, "A. heart and that was solid stone, ne
"a "a mare tenderness than siah'a'on'
- ~, vas an unknown quantity 70 nun.
~ ~. I, tell you some 81 the things "
..t,..s..l rb.n sailing under his eommaha'
'.st 4. Ais-usied With your sex; bul, LOT
~ crsdi, az the merchant service ho'
,as,,i,, them, one ease, however Is Ger
,ainly worth attention
,Thefe was a great epidemic o. Nss
.r,y IN 'g5. Hundreds Of nan s'Arteu
w,sfre,s took unauthorized passages ~ '"'
sbips bound west and though some o. M ~
were imprisoned and then sent paeA' 80
s.,ns .gain and again. As the ships mem
.sirs. srs helA responsible for these nnde.
.ir,bies the captains don't generally desi
-, iapientlv with them. But Thomson aua,
"A hlow. and insults 20 imprisonment ana
.so, the Fearless was stunned as II she were
haunted by the plague,
1T was in the early spring OF the year
,b,, we left home. and we hadn't been three
Avs AZ sea when the boaiswain foana az
I tower than seyenteen siowaways ~ tue oo'us
- h,pters 4 miserable crowd they WERE
- ,bsy lined M on the after-deek for the
.,r,ain's inspection. Thin, starving, III
clothed many Of them looked more hited ior
saritarium than for the rigors Of tue Az
lantic.
Thomson looked them over and l.
standing by his side saw him grow apso,
i,,at,. ,Bypls With rage. He said nothing
/ for ! minute. waiting for his anger 70 cuI'
inmate. and then It burst out. such Tor
4 .snt a. horrible invecti,e never heard IN
mi nv lie. and I'm no chicken. as you
! nav When ~ was exhausted ] suggested
Thai the men should be put TO work !
w,nted to get them ont Of the way, for /
was ful Of pity for the poor wretehes But
t he would have none Of II.
/ ..r don't board and lodge these gutter
snipes any longer than can help ne
rosred. This ship is going to be nd Of ihe
breed once ard for all. III teach them
lesson that will deter any other from ever
coming aboard in the hope Of free pas
s.ve didn't know what he was driving
Al then. but found out in good time, for the
next Saturday found Us among the zee. IL
va, a very bad season that year Tor Ice
herrs. and we had 10 slow down and 90 with
great caution 10 prevent beisg smashed 70
bits
son the Saturday morning when ] came
on deck here was a great berg about nan q
mile on our port bow, and the captain
Z
That will be q lesson for those stow
awsys, be said TO me.
Il asked him what he Eeant. but he only
told me that I'd see soon enough. And /
did He gsve the word to lower away q
lifeboat and the boat was stocked with
moderate supply Of biscuits and water. Then
h. got M the stowaWsys and told them to
get aboard. They hesitated but his
voice and his fists were uuanswerAble argu-
ments. and in spite Of the remons,ranee OF
his officers. in spite Of the angry murnurs
and threats Of the crew, those II poor fel-
lows were u,arooned on that bleak ieebers,
with only enough food TO keep body and
soul together for, say, fortnight 81 the
most. Their only hope Of salvation was IN
being picked up by passing ship, and
their chances were pretty slim, for We were
out Of the recognized trade routes II was
done. however. for Capt. Thomson kept me
sailors in check with a loaded revolver and
when the boat came back we took i aboard
aud proceeded on our journey. The despair
ing cries Of those poor beggars rang in my
ears for nights and nights; but Thomson did
not care He boasted Of his action. and
swore that It would be a lesson TO all stow
aways when the word went round.
'sThe iceberg dropped out Of sight below
the skyline and the Fearless went on her
way westward 20 New York thought that
gs. the last I'd ever see Of the men, but
There was a good deal of trouble shout
Thomson's action when we got to port. Some
Of the crew went 10 the consul and told the
story, and the man nearly lynehed; but
it was deemed best that the case should be
dealt with in England before an English
court So Thomson was retained IN ms
command and allowed to take the ship
nj A 4
coincidence arose.
From the day we left New York we
seemed to be running through dense fog all 7
the time It was awful, and navigation was
a nonresident factor with US. We had sim
ply to trust to blind luck and feel our way
through the mists, with our hearts in our
mouths and our hands on the engine tele- /
graph The men said il was a Judgment on
the ship all on account of Thomson bru- !
talty: and some old wiseaeres shook their
heads solemnly, and said the vessel would /
never reach port again. Even we orhcers I
began to take a black outlook, for never, in 1
the whole course Of my career, have / met I
with such q constant run Of bad luck. +
Thomson however laughed all the theories I
of men and officers aside. The swore that ii /
he had the same opportunity he would do .
the same dirty work again He seemed TO 4
take a pride in his 6endisAness. and would I
often come on the bridge rubbing his hands, (
and audibly wondering II those poor stow
Always had had enough Of their treatment. 1
'.Of course we fellows were so disguised +
that we could hardly be civil to the man.
In fact we ignored him as much as possible, !
although, as he was as big as the side OF !
house and strong as bullock, we had I
to be deferential TO a certain extent. 1t
was the hardest time of my life to be in
ha tar
as intention went a murderer.
when we got into the ice ATTITUDES
could see that our troubles, instead Of di.
were about to increase Ice is
bad enough in clear weather. In fog it's /
worse than very bad And when
the mist rolled away in patches, thinning T
enough for us to see ahead, we saw we were
in the midst Of regular sea fun Of bergs. I
So we. had to 90 very cannily. slowing, stop
ping and going astern till we were heartily
sick of the work Our nerves were set COM
pletely on edge; we saw dim shapes looming
through the fog where there was nothing in
reality; in fact we were almost mad with
anxiety and the constant strain.
Thomson at length got sick of the un-
One night, when he was on the
bridge with me, with the ship going dead
slow, he came over to my corner.
g I'm going to take chances he said
harshly. Luck always goes with the fear
less, and the man who fears is the man who
always suffers. If we're going to foul an
iceberg. we'll do it just as soon going slow
IS Wen do it going full speed And there
and then he rang the engines up to full
speed ahead. and the freshening beat OF the
propeller came to our ears in a moment The
ship began to gather way, and swept on
through the dense fog at the top of her
speed.
That night nearly turned my hair with
lear Thomson was like man nossasSad