Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-03-16
The Mystery Of
the Pelican
A Story Of the Sea During
Wartime.
R r. A. Mitchell

Julia Gowan sailed from New York Tor
Genoa, Italy. She was an English DOT
tom, owned by Americans and con-
yerted after the great European war
broke out to a United States vessel.
She carried cargo Of copper. Wheth-
er It was intended for Italy or was to
be forwarded to a country engaged IN
war never knew, but did know that
copper was in great demand for the
manufacture Of ammunition. And
further knew that, although We were
sailing under the stars and stripes, our
| captain was constantly on the lookout
for war vessels, though I am not sure
| whether at that time copper had been
declared contraband Of war.
We steered a course south Of that
usually taken by ships bound for the
Mediterranean in order to take as lit
tie risk as possible. There are few
vessels to be met with on that part OF
the worlds waters. and we did not
speak q ship till we were in longitude
80 degrees 40 minutes west. latitude ~
degrees 20 minutes north. and then we
spoke q vessel we came upon because
she had been abandoned.
She was q small steamer OF about
| 800 tons. Our captain, after satisfying
himself that he could get no reply to
| signals, sent me aboard Of her with
| dozen men to examine her and report.
I found her in good order, but the only
living thing aboard was a dog. He was
dying of hunger, but considered that
he could not have been left there very
long or he would doubtless have died.
| for I could not find any indications
that food had been left for him.
I went below to have look at the
cargo and found the hold full Of rifles.
The machinery seemed to be In good
working order. and there was q trace
| of fire left In the furnace. The only
thing wanting was the lifeboats. l
saw no reason why she should not be
taken into port as prize. l signaled
the captain. telling him what l had
found, and he came aboard to have a
look at the ship and cargo himself.
We concluded that the vessel had
sighted a man of war and that the
crew, expecting capture. had concluded
to get away themselves. There were
several ways by which they might
have escaped-in u fog or by boarding
q faster vessel than the pursuer. The
absence Of the ships boats tended to
confirm this theory.
The captain concluded to try to get
the vessel into port as prize. II she
could be taken to Europe her cargo
would be very valuable, but Of course
there was danger of capture by war
vessels, for there was no doubt that a
cargo Of rifles was contraband Of war.
Anyway, the captain directed me to re-
main aboard with the men I had with
me, including an engineer that he
would send me, and ordered me to try
to get the ship to either Spanish or
/ q Portuguese port. If l could get far
enough north to reach the western
coast of France. better still. but he adj
vised me not to try for France unless
| was chased and saw a chance to es'
cape In that direction.
Since there was fuel for power and
food for a prize crew there was moth
ing to be sent me except the engineer,
Soon after his arrival the fires were
rellghted. and. steam having been gen.
Grated. we parted with the Gowan,
because l took more northern course,
and the next morning she was out OF
sight.
found that our prize-her name was
the Pelican-was faster ship than
might have been expected from her
size. She could do fifteen knots an
hour. There were flags Of all nations
aboard. which was not surprising. con
sidering that she was carrying a con
traband cargo. Indeed. there was every
Indication that she had been taking big
risks.
One unexpected discovery was made
there had been woman aboard
We found in stateroom we supposed
to have been intended for the captain
J lot of feminine paraphernalia. Think
Ing that In this room might find
something that would throw light on
the case. l made careful search.
found nothing except crumpled bi!
Of writing paper on which had been
| written in a woman's hand:
Father-Why am locked In my room?
am frightfully worried about you. Some
thing must have happened. l will try to
. get this to you. but don't know how.
HELEN.
There was just enough In this to be
tantalizing. Who was "fatherT" And
who was Helen? She had evidently
not been able to send her message and
had crumpled 1t and thrown 1t into one
Of the drawers.
, would have proceeded at once to
look for further evidence. but at the
, time / discovered this message l was
!, called on deck by the watch. who had
sighted a line of smoke on the star
board quarter. kept on the same
course till the steamer came near
/ enough for me to see with glass that
she was cruiser. though she display
ed no flag: then I put the ship due
,, north, which would place the cruiser
astern. She was evidently coming fol
. me, for she increased rapidly in size
put on all steam. but the cruiser
must have been making from three to
six knots more than I. since she drew
/ up on me rapidly. It did not matter
, much what was her nationality. for u
she caught US she would take our car
90. If she were neutral and We
, could prove ourselves neutral we would
, not be liable to seizure, but unfortu
nately for Us we had no papers at all.
It was about 8 o'clock In the even
Ing when We discovered the cruiser
) and by the time 1t fell dark she had
approached within FIVE or six miles
Of US. l ordered every light put out
but she brought searchlight to beal
on US and Immediately after fired 9
gun after us. Then a friendly fog
came along and threw a mantle abou,
us that not even searchlight coulG