Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-03-16

no SIGH day fer us. This ere ship left
Wellington year ago and has been
a-sailin' and a-sailin', till we've gone
clean round the globe. You're nayiga-
tor enough to know. cap'n. that we've
lost one day In our reckonin'. Tonight
Wen cross the international date line
and jump day In our record. It
won't be Friday, June 80, but Satur-
day, July l.
| Boss. you'd oughter seen the way
he looked at me when said that It
seemed as II the idee struck him hard.
"This is Thursday he said, 'ain't
itY
"'Aye, aye. sir.
"If We don't reach the date line
afore tomorrow noon it'll be Friday,
and the bangin' will be legal
AYE, aye, sir! But II we do reach
the date line afore tomorrow at noon
It'll be Saturday accordin' to the new
reckonin', and Mr.. Withers can't be
swung accordin' to the sentence Of the
court
THE cap'n looks up ut the sky and
skins his eye along the horizon. Then
he turns to the fust officer. who was
standin' by
"'You got the sun today, didn't you,
Mr.. Greevisy
"'Aye. aye. SIR
"'How far do you reckon we are
from the one hundred and eightieth
meridian
Bout ninety miles, sir
Then the cap'n put his eye round
the horizon ag'in. I knowed well
enough what he was a-thinkin' about
With the wind we was a-gittin' we
couldn't make the date line afore the
time set for the hangin' Worse'n that,
the wind was a-dyin' out.
"'Well, my man. he said. kind of
chucklln',' 4 reckon Mr.. Withers II
hang. and hang legally
BOSS, as we men walked forward,
do you know. every mothers son Of us
had his eye on the sky a-tryin' to see
some sign Of wind. But there wasn't
no sign nowhere. A thin thickness
stood on the horizon, but that didn't
mean nothin', so far as could see.
and didn't see no hope. l went be-
low and put my arms round Mr..
Withers. who was a-sittin' pale and
thoughtful-like, and tried to tell him
about 1t ALL but my speakin' tube was
clogged, so l couldn't say nothin', and
one Of my mates had to tell him. He
thanked me and asked how the wind
tNs Z dvyfn
down. The color went out Of his face.
and he said solemn-like. Then there's
no putin off my sailin' day for the
big ocean
81 rubs my shirt sleeve agin my eye
and goes up on deck to look for wind.
Do you know, boss, the sails was
a-happin'. I turned my eyes skyward,
feelin' as II there wasn't no hope no.
where, and seen that the thin thick
ness wot I told you about was a-thick-
enin' some more. Besides, there was
a few bits of clouds wot looked higher
n the misty bank behind. with dark
centers and ragged edges. | turned
about to the quarterback and seen the
cap'n was a-lookin' at 'em too. Then
some of the other men on deck begun
to watch 'em, and pretty soon up
comes all the Off watches, every man
a-lookin' out at them ragged clouds.
"Arter awhile the cap'n, SEEM 1t
wouldn't do to put Off preparations
any longer, called all hands to shorten
sail and git the ship ready for gale
Well, 1t struck us bout eight bells. 1t
wasn't none of them white squalls wot
blows over in a hurry, but roarin
wind, backed by big bank of clouds.
1.-THE Polly Milford went over on her
beam ends, but the flynn jib had been
left, and that Studded her, and after
rockin' to port. then to starboard, then
to stern, she slid down from the crest
of a high wave and was buried in a
sea Of buttermilk.
"At any other time, boss, we'd ruther
not seen that wind. Now we prayed
for it to keep a-blowin'. But as night
wore on we found the ship was a-leak-
it.; then she listed, and-well, it begun
to look as If one man d better hang
than a hull crew go to the bottom.
amt a-goin' to tell you bout that
black night. them roarin' waves. that
howlin' wind.
"All to onct the flynn jib busted into
ribbons. The cap'n lost his head and
was a-givin' orders so wild that no
one would obey 'em; the fust officer
was a-shakin' with fear, and 1t begun
to look like we'd got to git some un
to command or founder.
"There was rush for the forward
eangway. Down, went half dozen
of us, and up we brings Mr.. Withers
and puts him in command The capn
didn't make no protest. He was too
skeered to think Of anything except
drownin'. Mr.. Withers TUX the helm
hisself, sent me below with a gang
to work the pumps, managed to git
up another jib and saved the ship.
"The next mornin' the wind dropped
to ten knot breeze, and there on the
horizon was land. We knowed we'd
~. 49, 1tpo apd Mr. Wffhpra