Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1908-09-04
. THE LAST OF
! THE SLAvERS.

was first mate of the Mary Good |
win of Philadelphia when the strangest
thing in all my seafaring life happen
ed. We were on the banks of New
foundland. the home of the fog king,
and the mist had come down on us
thicker than had ever seen it. 1t
lasted so long without lifting that the
captain lost all traces Of reckoning.
We were of Halifax. Cape Race or
Cape Breton, we didn't know which.
Finally he concluded to drop an anchor
and wait.
There was considerable swell roll
ing beneath us, but Of course no wind.
That would have blown away the fog.
One night the watch heard the sound
of distant bell. For an hour it tolled
family. then very slowly became more
distinct. 1t was evidently coming to
ward us. 1t must he drifting. for there
was no wind to ill sails. and we could
hear no sound of steam. At last the
bell tolled dismally within cables
length of us.
We began to he anxious and rang ON
own bell to let the stranger know that
we We're in her course. There was lit
tie chance of her crew being able tc
turn her. for there was no wind. but
they might anchor. She was comm.
so slowly as not to hurt us much from
fOuling except for the waves. If we
should he rolled together in the trough
of the sea or one should be let down Oh
the other. there might lie terrible
crash.
Our signal excited no reply. except
the tolling of the bell. which continued
constantly. Fearing those OH the ap-
preaching vessel had not heard us. we
fired gun. But this elected nothing.
Presently we could hear the bell toll
ing right beside us. and now and then
something black would appear not
twenty feet from us, hover there for :!
few minutes. then disappear. Once II
came near enough for us to distinguish
the side Of a ship.
We We're on terrible strain fol
awhile, fearing that VIC would clash
with the stranger: then we caught a
glimpse Of her stern under our bow
spirit. She had evidently passed us.
After waiting some time longer With
no view of her we concluded we were
| out Of danger
| At eight bells the next morning the
fog lifted. There was no sign OF land,
but on oar starboard quarter was a
barkentine without sails. her foremost
gone. rolling with the waves 4 wind
sprang up. and. raising sail. we made
toward her When we came near her
the captain sent boats crew to inves.
ugate
We found dereiict that had evident
~ been floating long while. The only
thing aboard that had ever had life in
1t was the body Of a. woman. and we
had to stave In the door Of the cap
tain's cabin to find that. 1t was lying
In q berth. and. notwithstanding the
many tossings the vessel had received.
1t had not rolled out We looked on
the log book for the last entry 1t was
dated eighteen months agone. Nov. 10.
1854.
We read the entry aud went back
further for an explanation. No part Of
the log made mention of anything TN
usual Transporting aboard Nevertheless
we traced what must have been some
thing OF the story A bundle OF love
letters from woman to the captain.
the last dated not long before the log
began, told us that lie and his wife
must have made the voyage wedding
trip. The last observation showed lati
| f6,r1n a pnin nrth
tude 1920 east. or about 300 miles
south Of the Canary islands and off the
coast of Africa The ships boats were
| gone which led us to believe that ev
cry one on board except the woman
had left the vessel and made for the
land.
The period. 1854. was when the
Of negroes from the African coast to
the United States. In the forecastle
we found a scrap Of paper on which
was written. 1.-The old man won't con-
sent: do the job" We interpreted this
to mean that the men wished to force
the captain to take the crew ashore to
secure u cargo Of slaves He declined
| auu lney were 10 NIL HIu. All tu4s
accounts for the captains wife being
locked in his cabin. The port anchor
was gone. This indicated that the
ship was at anchor when the crew LEFT
her. We found no evidence to show
whether the captain was killed or
went with them. The cable had evil
IDENTIFY parted and was blown offshore.
proh0 hlv vrhf)o tho mon woro ashore
after negroes storm came up and
broke the cable. Likely the captain
was killed on the ship. and during the