Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-15
The Frozen
l.. Ship
BY RALPH HUNTER

| - ueu was SouIulIuuluS Tue Mary
| Blake. u brigantine. on one Of my voy-
ages started from Tokyo. Japan, for
Boston. The crew had shipped In
America at setting out were very good
men. but had been thinned out by the
hardships OF the voyage. Several had
| been swept overheard by seas coming
! over her during storms on the Pacific
ocean. others had died Of fever con-
| tractEd on the coast Of Africa. and sew
eraI men who went ashore OH the Mar
shall islands never came back. sup
pose they were murdered by the ma
tiyeS. r....>. .- .
Unfortunately the men 1 lost were
my best sailors. and the few of the
original crew remaining were the
worst. To get home was obliged to
pick up a crew in Japan, get more at
Hongkong and finish the complement
at Naples. Italy. The consequence was
that sailed through the Mediter-
ranean and out on to the Atlantic with
the worst lot Of seamen ever got to-
gether except on a pirate ship.
1t was all 1 could do to handle them,
especially as my first and second mate
were afraid Of them. The crew soon
found this out and were proportionate-
ly ugly. The weather turned bad soon
after we left Gibraltar, and 1t was
necessary to send men aloft to take In
sail.
A mist had frozen on the rigging,
and the men wouldn't 60. When told
them that IL they didn't we were liable
to 60 to the bottom they said they
might as well perish that way as to
slip overheard from icy rigging. / and
my two mates were obliged to go aloft
and get In the sail.
This, Of course, was mutiny, and the
men-at least all except the copperskins
among them-knew 1t. When the whites
told the latter we were only some ten
days sail from the American coast and
when I got there could have them
hanged they were all in favor Of taking
the ship, numbering me and the two
mates and turning her into pirate. In
fact, some Of them r had shipped in the
east had been pirates In the Malay ar
chipelago.
l kept a stif upper lip, being heavily
armed all the while, and by my man.
ner endeayored If 7 could not COW
them to at least convince them that
some of them would get killed before
they killed me- Besides, there Is al
ways government, which, though 1t
cannot protect officers far out on the
ocean by force, has even there great
moral effect. In this way I, the only
one on the ship who did not show fear
of the rascals, endeavored to stave or
disaster till we neared the American
coast and fell In with other vessels.
There is point In the Atlantic about
where the Titanic was sunk by an ice
berg where the arctic stream, having
brought the ice down from the north,
swings it of to the southeastward. We
ran into this neighborhood at q season
when number Of these sea mountains
were coming along amid fields Of Ice.
On the day we struck the ice the men,
melted by one Of the worst Of them,
who took the lead. determined that
they would 60 no nearer the coast.
where they were liable to meet with
the punishment they deserved
was standing on the poop deck
looking at several bergs that were in
sight and inwardly cursing the fields
Of ice that were impeding our progress
toward the land when I saw the crew
or most Of them coming aft Neither
Of the other officers was on deck, and
it occurred to me that they had either
been secured or made away with and
the men were coming to finish me.
CHANGING about over the waters in the
hope of seeing vessel, did see one
poke her nose from behind one Of the
bergs.
Some Of the mutineers, seeing me
looking over the starboard bow, paus-
ed to see what I was looking at The
vessel was moving very slowly with
only her jib sails set, while the rem
nants Of other sails that had been
blown away were futtering in the
wind My enemies had calculated on
removing me without any one seeing
them AS soon as they discovered this
vessel most Of them hesitated Their
leader endeavored to induce them to
go on, but we and the other ship were
bound to meet few miles farther on.
and this was too much for the white |
sailors, especially those who realized |
what their punishment would be In |
case they were caught numbering |
their captain. Encouraged. drew a |
with each hand and ordered |
the men back to the forecastle. Every |
man obeyed me. -..: =" II.
I took up glass and leveled 1t on
the ship. What / saw convinced me |
that there was not living person on !
her. A man was dashed to the wheel. |
but he was dead. Another was lean
Ing up against the side of the poop |
deck. but l was sure he was frozen
stiff. Several other bodies were lying i
III