Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16

distant cannonade, the ship gave TIT
impression that she was making prog
ress-until one CHANGED to glance ovel
the side, to WindWard, at her wake O.
dead, oily water, which told clearly tina
she was merely drifting to leeward like
crab.
| A FTER a week of this uneven tussle
with the great west wind, obser.
vationS were obtained one morning dur
ing q brief spell of sunshine. They
placed the ship farther to the east
ward than the position she had been In
fortnight previously! All their efforts
had been in vain! Even when she hao
managed to beat to windward, during
temporary lulls in the gale, she had
actually lost ground on account of that
easterly current!
There was little conversation in the
fo'c'sle these days, and little enough
sleep. Booted and fully clothed in OIL
skins, even to their sou-westers, the
men lay in their bed places, resting on
their elbows, or sat round on the heav-
ily-lashed sea-chests. putting silently at
their stumpy pipes and listening appre-
henSively to the pounding Of great seas
against the ships frame, and the dull
roar of the wind.
Overhead smoking, sinking oil lamp
suspended from the deck-head by a
string described wide, fantastic circles
with the vessels wild lurches. A foot
of water Swished dismally to and fro
across the floor, on which the mems
discarded clothing made little dark
heaps. Occasionally some one would
raise the lid of his sea chest, bent on
finding something warm to wear-but
| only to discover, alas! that his scanty
wardrobe was as sodden as everything
else
Meals were scarce and badly cooked
| Sometimes, indeed, they were not cook
ed at ALL for the galley fire was con-
stantly washed out by the riot of water
that swept around the deck like a
cataract, rendering the Journey be-
tween poop and fo'c'sle q highly dan
gerous undertaking. Every now and
then the ship would give particularly
| violent lurch as an extra big sea burst
aboard
A moment later the doors of the liv-
| ing quarters-fo'c'sle and deck houses
in which latter were housed the bos'n
| carpenter, Sailmaker and apprentices
| would tremble in their frames as VOL
umes Of water squirted in through their
| crevices like kissing geysers, and wash
ed out the lower hunks
Anything dry for'ard, mate?" one of
the helmsmen asked his relief on one
occasion when turning over the wheel.
mot a darn stitch" replied the other.
1.-THE only dry spot aboard o. this ERE
'ooker as knows of is in my throat"
And that was just about the size of it,
for while such weather conditions make
every single thing wet they leave you
with a terrible, unquenchable thirst.
This was the state of affairs on the
Denbigh Castle when, on March 10,
1909, Capt. Evans, her commander,
came on deck to study the dawn of
what promised to be yet another bleak,
cherries day. If he had hoped to find
some perceptible change in the out
look, he was doomed to disappointment
Hail and snow squalls swept out of
the westward necessarily, shrieking and
moaning.
There was not a single CLEAN of
brightness to relieve the somberness
The black obscurity of night turned
gradually into the CHASTITY gray of day.
On all sides was the same wild, deadly
monotonouS Seascape--a never-ending
succession of huge, slate-colored noun
tains of water whose surface was torn
into shreds of seething white foam by
the fury of the wind.
y \ X n
CAPT. EVANS looked thin-lipped
~ haggard and worn. He had not
F, slept wink that night-nor for many