The Republican journal., 1915-09-02

liam Rowe, Vassalboro; D. S. Bagley,
Liberty; Daniel ache!der, Palermo;
George Perry, Pennington. Me.
A Voyage In The Brig Elmer.
A Renaissance by Capt. George L. Norton
Editor Of The Marine Journal.
A shipmate writes to ask ''if we re.
member when we sailed out of Bangor,
Maine, just before the civil war fol
the West Indies, loaded with lumbe r
in the brig Elmer. with Capt. Abra 8
Iapley." We certainly do remember it.
Neither will we ever forget it, as thai
was one of the voyages that came neal
being our last through what occurred or
this memorable trip. Our "Shipmate'
referred to was cook and steward. The
Elmer was hermaphrodite brig of about
$50 tons, carrying about 100, 900 feet oil
lumber in her hold and nearly 80, 900 feet
on deck, securely dashed, which made
her as easy as an old shoe in seaway,
besides being dry in consequence of the
deckload being even in height with the
after and forward houses, so that with
everything slowed snug, in gale of
wind we had no occasion to get our feet
wet unless something went wrong for
ward of the foremost, as that was as far
as the deckload reached.
The cargo belonged to the owners, and
the captain was authorized to sell 1t at
the best possible price. We cleared for
Barbados, W. l., the Windward Island,
which would give us fair trade wind to
the Leeward Islands if we didn't sell at
the first port of call, as either of these
was, In those days, good market for
lumber. Upon arriving at Barbados,
we anchored off Bridgetown, on the lee
side of the island, just before dark, made
all snug for the night, Capt. Tapley de-
Gliding not to go ashore until morning.
Some time about midnight the mate,
whose room was in the forward part of
the harness cask filled with beef and
pork for the voyage, heard a noise in that
vicinity, jumped out of his berth and
room, and encountered a naked darky
passing beef over the side to another one
in boat. AS the thief started to run,
the mate caught him by the leg, which
slipped through his hands in jlffy, en-
abling him to jump overheard without
hindrance, he being creased for the job,
swan to his companion in boat short
distance off. Our yawl had not been un-
lashed, consequently we could not chase
him. Next dav we learned that this was
an old trick with the Barbados darkies
whenever they sneaked aboard of ship
to steal;they were always in nature s garb
and thoroughly creased. Through our
mates activity, however, we lost only a
small part of the contents of the harness
caSk,
Capt. Tapley failed to sell our cargo
the next day, so we got under way for
Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadalupe. where we
disposed of it promptly and began dis
charging, with our own crew making
RATS of the lumber and towing them
ashore. Al the time it happened to be
very sickly at Pointe-a-Pitre, and after
we had discharged about half of our
cargo, one by one our crew, the officers,
including the writer, were within week
in an improvised hospital in an old ware
house on shore, all hands laid low with
prevailing epidemic of dengue fever.
The captain, mate and myself were
given mattresses on the lower floor with
no bed clothes, using our outside clothing
for pillows. The crew were housed In
another part of the building. Every
one of US helpless and burning up with
fever. Two negro nurses and a physi-
clan were supplied, the latter visiting
US twice day. On the second day in
this howell, the captain became delirious,
and the next day left, saying he was 60
ing to walk home, leaving the building,
much to our relief, as he had raved all
the night before. We had made up our
minds that we had got to die anyway,
and naturally desired as much quiet as
we could get to prepare for the change.
Our captain was discovered shortly
after he left, wandering about the
streets, and taken to the physician
home, where he soon rallied, and was
the first one of the crew to recover.
Strange to US, and as Unexpectedly, all
hands wore the fever out and were sent
back aboard the brig in about two
weeks, but the most woebegone looking
lot of men that we were ever shipmates
with. Had we not been sturdy sons of
the old Pine Tree States, accustomed to
hardship through rigorous winters on
land and sea, we would never have pulled
through that terrible siege. AS a mat
ter OF course, we were unable to finish
unloading the vessel, which was after
ward accomplished by the colored ma
tives. We left this horrible port, as we
viewed it, for the island of Antigua, where
we loaded salt for Boston. By the time
our cargo was on board we had recovered
sufficiently to perform the duties of
working ship" and thereby making a
successful passage to the "States," for
which we were more than grateful, as
few weeks previous we had given up the
thought of ever seeing home and friends
again. Yes, Shipmate, l do remember
that voyage, as you will see by the fore
going.