Norwich bulletin., 1909-04-24

barque was within a hundred feet of | the Castle. Then some seventy five | Mexican soldiers were put on board, l and the sound of approaching boats
 was heard through the intense dark | ness, but just as they came within | hailing distance, one of the most gor-
 geous displays of fireworks that 1 have ! ever witnessed was set off, and 1t so | brilliantly illuminated the harbor and ! surroundings that the officer in charge | of the cutting out expedition gave the l order for the boats to return to the | ship. which order they cheerfully | obeyed. We discharged our cargo | hOisted in another and sailed for home ] where we arrived in due time, to the | great joy of the owners and the entire | satisfaction of the crew.
 ] In 1887 l sailed out of New York on l the ship General Parkill bound tor 1 St. Marks, Florida for a cargo of cot | ton to be landed at Liverpool. We had | not been many days at sea before the | captain and first mate began to show | themselves as two of. the most tyran nical bulies that anys of the crew had ! ever sailed with. When the men be- came sufficiently well acquainted to l have confidence in one another, six of us determined to desert in a body on | the very first opportunity which pre- sented itself after arriving at St. Marks and knowing that the vessel ! NhQIQ IllAe UO dIGllDE III LIit TOdNEltdu 1 while waiting for her cargo, we an- l ticipated n6 great delay in securing our freedom. The second mate, who was a very different sort of man from his superior officers, had. somehow, got an inkling of our intention, and he earnestly begged to be permitted to join us. The opportunity we sought presented itself on the second night after coming to anchorage when the captain, taking the four ships boys, went to the city. where he remained. The boys returned with the boat about darl- and at twelve o'clock, when
 every other man and boy of the crew
 was soundly sleeping. we quietly haul
 ed the boat alongside, put our belong
 ings aboard and silently stole away.
 We were five days in this boat, during
 three of which we were without food
 and two without water. Then we
 landed. and found. after consulting
 the mile posts, that we were eight
 miles from AppalachieOIa. Then we
 hauled the boat ID on the beach well
 above high water, and started for
 the town where we arrived at about
 nine o'clock at night. One of the
 party had thiTty-five cents which he
 invested in pilot bread, and we all
 heartily enjoyed the feast That night
 we slept in a cornfeld about a mile
 from town. and the day following four
 of us shipped on board the Ann Eliza,
 bound for Providence, Rhode Island,
 with cargo of cotton. with pay fixed
 at thirty-seven dollars "by the run"
 She was small. but full-rigged ship,
 and as sailors were very scarce at
 ApralachicOla at that time, we sailed
 away with only five men before the mast, the fifth being a runaway from a 'live-oall" gang. and no sailor: but
 our treatment was in such striking
 contrast from that which we had re- celyed on the General Parkill that we
 stood the extra work of making the passage without a murmur and in due time arrived at Providence.
 Upon being paid off I went to the steamboat Rhode Island to take pass age for New York, and found that Ter engineer was an old schOOmate. We were mutually glad of the meeting, and in the course of our conversation he asked if I would like to go steamboat ing. I said I would. and it was then and there I engaged myself as a deck hand on the Rhode Island. It was dur ing my term of service that l had the honor of seeing safe on board the first express of Hornden & Company that was ever sent out from Boston. It
 was the pioneer of business that hay since become so important a factor in the commercial world
 After some two years Of steamboat ing I returned once more to my home, having been absent about four years I was received with open arms and great rejoicing, and had there been any fatted calf running around loose, | no doubt he would have been duly offered up in honor of my return.
 After visiting around for about a week and receiving the congratulations of old and young upon still being in the land of the living I was installed as second mate in my fathers rope walk, a position which l filled for four years to my own credit and the finan- cial benefit of the owners. It was dur ing this period that I made the ac- marners and appearance pleased me so well that l proposed that we shoulG ship for a long cruise together. She seemed to regard the proposition fav orably, but having no father, sug- gestcd that l should negotiate with | her mother. The old lady not being at all formidable T. fearlessIy ao- preached her and made known my ob. ject in seeking the interview. She did not withhold her approval, hut grant ed it cheerfully and bestowed with 1t | mothers blessing, and as a result Of that important step in my life, there are nineteen lineal deSceniar+s of that union living in and about San Fran cisco. even to great grandchildren.
 After my four years of faithful ser vice in the rOpewalk, I accepted a po- siti0n on the steamer Worcester If | the Norwich and New York line to l Boston and for five years thereafter filed various positions or the differ ent boats of the company from wheel 1 man 10 emergency captain.
 The wreck of the steamer Atlantic | occurred when I was mate of the Mo hican, a steamer of the same line. On l the day before Thanksgiving, the wind | blew such a gale that Captain Van Pelt decided to run the Mohican into l New Haven and remain there until | the storm subsided The next morn down the Sound, we saw the Atlantic 1 lying at anchor at I'iStnr's ISiGnd. and l fyng signals of distress. We put in at Aliens Point, landed our passengers, | discharged our freight, and took in a i fresh supply of coal Then we went | down to the Atlantic. When we ar rived near her, she hauled down her 1 signals of distress, and made signals | for us to leave ner. We returned to l New London, and Captain Van Pelt l requested me to go at once to Presi- | dent Holland of the steamship com | pany and tell him about the Atlantic. | l hired horse and buggy and made | the best speed l could to the cOmpany's 1 office. in Norwich. President Holland 1 received my message, and told me to | go to my home and eat my Thanks | giving dinner, while he would call a l meeting of the board of directors in | regard to the Atlantic. At daylight i next morning. we went to Fishers | Island, but the Atlantic had then gone | to pieces. Many of her passengers | were saved by the people cn the island, | but the captain-Captain Dustan-- l did not survive the loss of his ship. ! He is supposed to have committed | suicide by letting himself go down in