The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-21
ROUNDING
THE HORN
Continued from Page Nine.)

goose winged topsails, to quote from
Mr.. Shaw: ''Bang, the lee elew o
the maintopsail has carried away, an,
the sail is flashing about like a hai
Of death. But the canvas of that sal
is strong and doubly strong; though j
whips about with a noise of artillery
the sail does not split; only a length
Of chain is leaping in the air anC
threatening 10 brain any man who vii
venture within its sweep And theI
the captain, after thinking a minute
though time is precious about that
time, saws: Conserving it. Who
ever heard of furling the lee elew OF
topsaill All the sailors in the world
eonld not furl the lee clew of top
sail when there is wind enough to part
the sheet. for il could not have been
the clew that carried away-if it had
there would not have been any chain
sheet attached.
Usually. in bad weather. we have
preventer sheets. and ease the sheet 10
take the strain off. Again. how much
difference would it make to the course
of that big ship, Just that lee elew, or,
rather. weather clew, for they have
furled the lee onel AS l remarked
before. all the sailors that could get
on that lee vardarm could not furl thet
elew before il blew away. If it were
blowing a terrific gale, in one minute
il would be gone to pieces. Ihey
could furl the rope and rags, and by
good luck. save the weather clew,
which probably they did in this case,
and what the captain wants to keep
all the sail he can on the ship for, is
to steady his ship. especially if she IS
the brute you would imagine her from
Mr. Shaw's description.
1 should Judge, also, that the ship
did not lay up to the sea very well,
otherwise. why does he haul down his
foretopmast staysail2 j should think
he would keep it on till it blew away,
if he has ice under his lee. / might go
on and find many faults with what is
written in that article, but think / have
mentioned enough to show they were
not written by a sailor, nor for sailors
to read. But don't believe me; just
hand that article to any shipmaster
who has weathered Cape Horn and he
will not read it, unless you ask him for
his opinion on it. l suppose somebody
must read it, and like such stuff, or 1t
would not be published. and l can tell
you of many articles, that this one is
a true sea yarn in comparison with.
! believe if / wrote one of my trips
round the Horn no one would publish
it. 1t would be too tame; and yet an
account of my longest passage to the
westward, fOrty-three days, and only
about one thousand miles of distance.
We speak of rounding the Horn from lat
itude of so in the Atlantic TO the lati
tude of 80 in the Pacific Why, /
doubt that anyone will care to pub
lish this is, because / offered the best
shipwreck story l know, and one that
| will guarantee to hold any audience
in the telling. and the more sailors in
the audience the better, to the Youth s
Companion, but it was refused, not for
the want of space, for a week or two
later thew had room for the most rotten
sailor yarn / ever read-One that my
sailors in the forecastle. though hard up
for reading matter, would not read, it
was so absurd and silly. Here is my
story of rounding the Horn:
Rounding Cape Horn
In the year 1905. we sailed from New
YIN loI IlohOiulus III Nit bdAh ~ uuduNl.
From 80 in the Atlantic to 80 in the
Pacific we were just forty days, and
though not my longest time in thirty
passages to the westward, it was the
hardest. | will copy the old log kept
by the mate. You will notice ii was in |
the midst of winter:
Tuesday, May 9, l9O5-Lat. 1910 5,
Long. Ga w. Moderate breezes from
WNNN., and fine weather.
May 1O-Same weather; made 126
miles.
May l1-Southwest gale; hove to
under two lower topsails and foretop-
mast staysaiI; made 90 miles.
May l2-Strong gales from south
west; heavy cross-sea; ship labOring
hard.
May 13-Gales increasing. with snow
squalls; wore ship to WNW. and hove
to, under goose-winged maintopsail;
and now our trouble all began, because
the vessel was loaded too crank. She |
lay down on her side till the water was
up to the main hatch; all the lee side
was completely under and the water
up to the fifth ratlin in the main rig
ging.
MAY IA - Gale continues; ship on
her side.
May Is, p. m.-Moderating. From
this date till the DIST, fighting the
weather, sometimes all sail, and then
down to lower topsails. On the night
of the DIST made the light on New
Year 5 Island. This is a small island |
Just off the north side of Staten Island |
We went close to it. within two miles
/ believe there is a company of seal
here; anyhow it looked cheer
full to see a light and the signs of habi-
tation. If we had remained under two
lower tOpsailS, under the lee of this
land for two weeks, while the south
west gales lasted, we should have been
just as far along; but ! was foolish
enough to pass out by Cape St John
and down into the easterlv current.
which no sailing vessel can beat against
under short sail.
May -, p. might breeze from
southwest, which hauled TO the west
ward and breezed up; reduced sail to
lower topsails.
May G3-Wind northwest; blowing |
hard; ship under rcefed topSails and |
reefed courSers. as we have a leading /
wind we are carving all the sail we
can drag, and the ship plunging into !
head Sp4 frnp1 tho 80, -. - ,