ESCORTED BEYOND DANGER.--DAILY WORK ON SHIPBOARD.--WE SAVE A
BOATFULL OF CASTAWAYS.--HOW WE FOUND THEM.
"We're in for it now," said the captain, "and must take our chances.
We'll hug the Spanish coast pretty closely, and if they press us hard
we may have to take refuge in some of the ports of Spain. It's lucky
for us, there's a fairly good number of them,--Barcelona, Valencia,
Alicante, Cartagena, Malaga, and several others. We will stop at
Gibraltar, and perhaps we may find a British man-of-war sailing out of
that port by the time we're ready to start."
Fortunately for us we didn't see a single corsair from the time we
passed the Chateau d'If until we sighted the Rock of Gibraltar. Just
as we came in sight of the famous rock we saw a vessel coming into the
straits which had a piratical look. She steered in our direction; and
we steered for safety to the spot where we had formerly anchored. We
turned around Europa Point, where the Rock of Gibraltar juts into the
Mediterranean, with the pirate ship not more than half a mile away
from us. She had tried her best to cut us off, and would have done so
if she had had fifteen minutes more to her advantage. Another vessel
was in sight at a distance; and if we had attempted to run out of the
straits without stopping at Gibraltar, we should have dropped directly
into her jaws. Anyway, between the two of them there was little chance
for our escape.
We were not as cordially received this time at Gibraltar as on our
first arrival. The enthusiasm over the rescue of the Warwick and her
people had somewhat abated; but this is in accordance with human
nature generally, and we were not at all surprised at it. Under the
circumstances, Captain Dawson decided to give liberty on shore to
nobody, and to shorten the stay of the Washington in port as much as
possible. He ascertained that an English frigate would sail for London
in two or three days, and asked the privilege of following in her wake.
The privilege was granted; and he was told to be in readiness for the
signal to depart.
Early on the morning of the third day the signal for departure was
hoisted on the British man-of-war. We hove anchor at once; and as there
was a favoring wind we sailed out of the Bay of Gibraltar, and after
passing Europa Point backed our sails, and waited for the Englishman.
He took his own time for starting, and we lay there hove-to for an hour
or more. Meantime, our captain had his eye on two vessels away out
in the straits that looked very much like Algerines. Their movements
indicated that they were "laying for" us. They probably expected,
and certainly hoped, that we were going to sail through the straits
unaccompanied by any escort, as there was no American war-ship at
Gibraltar to give us any attention.
When the Algerine captains saw the English man-of-war coming out and
heading for the straits, the Washington following close behind, they
knew that their chances for business were decidedly interfered with
for that day at least. The Englishman steered straight out into the
Atlantic, not turning up the coast in the direction of Cadiz as we
feared he might. Whether he did it out of courtesy to us, or merely to
give himself a wide offing, I am unable to say; but we were all very
glad he did so. The corsairs steered away to the south in the direction
of the coast of Morocco; and the last we saw of them they sank beneath
the horizon beyond Cape Spartel.
We sailed all day in the company of the British man-of-war,--I think
her name was Grampus, but am not sure,--and when sunset came the coast
was almost out of sight in the distance. Two or three merchant ships
flying the English flag were in sight, or had been during the day. They
were in no danger from the pirates, and of course could sail wherever
they liked. At sundown our escort dipped his flag by way of saying
farewell, and we dipped ours in return.
We gave some extra dips, like taking off our hats two or three times
in succession, in order to thank him for his courtesy; and a great
courtesy it was, in view of the strained relations existing at that
time between our respective countries. I wondered, as I looked at the
graceful figure of the Grampus dancing on the water, whether there were
any impressed Americans serving on board of her, and perhaps looking
over the rail in our direction, wishing, oh, so earnestly, that they
were on board the Washington, under their own dear flag, and sailing
for home.
Again and again we thanked our lucky stars that we relieved the crew
of the Warwick as we did, and brought her safe to port. Our captain
said, or at least Haines declared that he said it, "Charity is one of
the noblest acts of which man is capable; and the best charity of all
is that which receives a double reward, a high rate of salvage and
protection against sea-robbers."
The Grampus and Washington steered on the same course for the greater
part of the night; we could see her lights ahead of us, and noted that
the distance steadily increased as the hours wore on. She had evidently
cracked on all sail after bidding us good-by, having previously kept
her canvas somewhat reduced in order to enable us to keep up to her.
About four bells in the morning watch she turned to the northward; and
at sunrise we had drawn so far apart that her hull had sunk below the
horizon. By this time we were out of the area covered by the Algerine
corsairs, and had nothing further to fear from them.
We had a favoring wind for several days, and took a straight course for
home. Nothing worthy of note occurred for five or six days; and had it
not been for a great deal of cleaning up and general overhauling of
the ship we might have had an easy time of it. The captain was anxious
to have his craft appear in as nice a condition as possible when it
entered port and passed under the eyes of the owners. The common notion
with landsmen is that when a ship leaves port on a long voyage she is
in her finest condition, and comes home very much battered and bruised,
and used up generally.
Now, the real fact is that unless she has some accident, or happens to
come home in the dead of winter when it is impossible to do any work,
she is in better condition when she reaches home than at any other
time. When she sails from port her decks and sides are black and dirty
from taking in cargo, her standing rigging is generally slack, there
are loose ends hanging everywhere, and, as a sailor would express it,
"everything is adrift."
The longer the voyage is the better is the appearance of the ship,
provided she has fine weather for the last month or so of it. The
best-looking vessels I've ever seen were those that had come round Cape
Horn or Cape of Good Hope on their return from the other side of the
world.
The captain kept us busy setting up and tarring all our standing
rigging, setting the masts, ratting down or up the lower and topmast
rigging, scraping the ship inside and out, decks, masts, and booms, and
pounding the rust off the chains, bolts, and fastenings. The whole ship
was gone over, inside and out, during our voyage. The work began the
second day out from Gibraltar, and was continued almost all the time
until we got back to Boston again.
On the tenth day after passing the straits the watch on deck was busy
with the work of touching up the ship. I was aloft, tarring down the
standing rigging near the foremast, and my position was higher up than
that of any other man of the crew. I happened to look off toward the
leeward and thought I saw a speck on the water; I looked again and felt
sure there was a boat or something of the sort. But it was a speck, and
nothing more.
I hesitated a moment as to what I should say or do; I concluded it best
to call one of the officers and let him decide. So I shouted,--
"On deck there!"
"Aye, aye, there; what is it?" came to me in the voice of the first
mate.
"There's something in sight away to leeward!" I answered. "I don't know
what it is."
"Aye, aye," was the reply; "go on with your work."
The captain was in the cabin at the time, and the mate informed him of
my report.
Immediately Captain Dawson came on deck with his glass, mounted into
the foretop, and asked me where away was my discovery.
I indicated the direction, and he brought his glass to bear upon the
object. He must have looked at it for nearly ten minutes, certainly for
five; then, without saying a word, he descended to the deck and spoke
to Mr. Stevens.
A moment later the mate shouted for all who were aloft to come down;
and as soon as we reached the deck the Washington's course was changed
to the direction of the little speck I had seen.
Not a word was said by the captain and mate to any of the crew as to
the cause of the change of course. I told Haines and several others
what I had seen, and that I thought we were about to take up a boat
from a wrecked ship.
In a little while the speck became clearly visible from the deck;
and as we approached it, we who had no telescopes could clearly make
out that it was a boat with a rude substitute for a sail spread in
the bows. We ran free, and overhauled it in a short time; and as we
approached it we could see a white cloth waved in the air to assure us
that some one was on board.
As we came up to the boat we hove to for it to come alongside. The
people on board seemed to have considerable difficulty in maneuvering
their craft, and so Mr. Johnson, our second mate, was ordered to lower
one of our boats and go to the relief of the stranger. This he did
promptly, and very soon the two boats were alongside, fastened to ropes
that had been thrown over for their accommodation.
Mr. Johnson sent one of the men from our boat up the side of the ship
to the deck, to tell the captain that the people in the strange boat
were so exhausted that they would be unable to climb the rope safely,
and he advised that a sling should be rigged in order to get them on
board.
Immediately on learning this Captain Dawson ordered a sling to be
rigged from the end of the mainyard. In ten or fifteen minutes the
sling was ready, and meantime some bread and hot coffee had been
lowered for the use of the unfortunate strangers. There were eight of
them in the boat altogether, and as I looked over the side I could see
that there were two women and a girl in the party. One of the women
was middle aged, and the other young, perhaps sixteen or thereabouts.
These two and the girl, who appeared to be six or seven years old,
clung closely together, and I judged that the elder of the trio was the
mother of the other two. Close by them was a soldierly, dignified man
who seemed to be consoling and cheering them, and I concluded that he
was the husband of the elder woman, and the father of the two others.
When the sling was ready the strangers were speedily hoisted on deck.
The sling was made of a piece of stout canvas sewn into the shape of a
chair, and with its sides held into position by means of part of a hoop
from an old water-cask.
The edge of the canvas was turned over so as to make it double, and in
this doubled edge three holes were pierced to receive the ends of a
half-inch rope. The three small ropes were joined together about four
feet above the sling and fastened to a three-quarter-inch rope that
passed through a tackle at the end of the mainsail-yard. By means of
this rope and tackle the chair, or sling, could be raised and lowered
at will.
It was lowered into the boat and the middle-aged woman was placed in
it. She hesitated at first at trusting herself to be hoisted into
the air; but the man I took to be her husband urged her, and after a
little demur she sat down as directed. Mr. Johnson had stepped into
the boat to see that the sling was properly managed, and before the
order was given to hoist away he passed a rope around the sling and its
passenger, so that in case she became frightened and lost control of
herself she would not be likely to fall out.
When all was ready the word was given and the men on the deck of the
Washington hauled away with a will. When the sling was well above the
level of our rail it was drawn in on deck by means of a line that had
been fastened to it independent of the hoisting-line. As it was drawn
in the sailors who had hoisted it eased away on the rope, and in less
time than it takes me to tell it the fair passenger stood on the deck
of our ship.
Captain Dawson approached the lady, raised his hat, and said,--
"Madam, please walk into my cabin and make yourself at home. Your
friends will join you immediately as they are brought on board."
[Illustration: "THIS IS JACK CRANE," SAID CAPTAIN DAWSON. Page 159.]
The lady, for she was a real lady, thanked Captain Dawson for his
politeness, and accepted his invitation. He accompanied her to the door
of his cabin, again raised his hat to her, and returned to his place on
deck near the mainmast.
A minute or so after he came back the other woman was safely hoisted on
deck. Captain Dawson repeated in almost the same words the invitation
to go to his cabin. The young woman thanked him, and said,--
"If you please, sir, I'll stay here until my sister comes. She will be
next, I believe, so your officer said, and we two will go together."
The captain bowed, saying, "Just as you please; the cabin is at your
service at any moment, and the lady who first came on board is now
there."
Very speedily the little girl reached the Washington's deck, and
immediately seized her sister by the hand.
"What a nice way of getting on board that is!" said the younger one;
"seemed to me as though I was a bird and flying through the air; but I
wouldn't like to go far that way."
"No," replied the other; "neither would I. It's very kind of the people
on this ship to take so much trouble on our account."
"Pardon me, but it is always a sailor's duty to aid those in distress,"
said Captain Dawson, who was standing so near that he could not help
overhearing all that was said by the two sisters. "And what greater
distress can there be than yours as we found you on the open ocean?
Come, please, now you are together, and go to my cabin."
Without waiting for a reply he led the way to the entrance of the cabin
followed by the young woman and girl. Then he bowed himself away as he
had done in the previous instance.
The next to come on board was the man whom I took for the head of the
family whose other members we had already received. My surmise was
correct; he announced himself as Captain Graham of His Majesty's army,
and explained that he was on his way from London to Bermuda on the ship
Evelyn, Captain Woods, accompanied by his family. They were the only
passengers on the ship, and, as circumstances had turned out, he was
very glad that such was the case. Captain Dawson asked him if he would
join his family in the cabin or remain on deck. He paused a moment, and
then said he thought he would see his wife and daughters, as they might
possibly need his assistance in some way.
"All right," said Captain Dawson; "I'll go with you, and show you the
cabin and the accommodations that it will be possible to give you. We
are not fitted up for carrying passengers," he explained, "but we will
manage in some way to dispose of you."
The British officer thanked his host for his courtesy, and together
they proceeded to the cabin. Captain Graham entered first, and was
speedily followed by Captain Dawson, who lingered at the entrance a
moment to give some directions to Mr. Stevens.
The other occupants of the strange boat that we had picked up were the
captain, the second mate, and three of the crew. They were quickly
landed on our deck, and as their boat was in good condition and we had
room for it, it was hoisted in and saved. Then the Washington filled
away on her course and left behind her the scene of the rescue of the
people from the Evelyn.
Meantime, in the cabin of the Washington, Captain Dawson did everything
he could to make his guests comfortable. They were weak and worn with
their sufferings in the open boat, and it was with difficulty that
the women and girl were able to stand. The man was more robust than
they, but even he had lost a great deal of his customary strength.
Fortunately for the new arrivals there were two vacant rooms in
the cabin of the Washington, and one of them was large enough to
accommodate three persons. The larger of these rooms was given up to
Mrs. Graham and her two daughters; Captain Graham was lodged in the
other of the vacant rooms, where he was shortly after joined by the
captain of the Evelyn. Everything about the room was placed at the
disposal of the strangers, who thanked Captain Dawson with the greatest
heartiness for the kindness he was showing them.
"I am sorry I can do so little for your comfort," he replied,
addressing his remark to Mrs. Graham, "as I haven't any women's
clothing on board,--at least, I don't know of any. I'll turn out the
contents of the slop-chest, and you can pick out whatever you like. If
you can find anything that will answer your purpose, why just take it
and use it."
The slop-chest was in a store-room off the cabin, and was in charge
of Mr. Stevens. He was sent for to open the chest and spread out the
contents upon the cabin table. When this was done both Captain Dawson
and Mr. Stevens left the cabin in order to give the strangers an
opportunity to select what they liked without being embarrassed by
their presence.
Captain Woods of the Evelyn was temporarily consigned to the
forecastle, where he arrayed himself in dry clothing which Mr. Johnson
furnished him. As soon as possible a good meal of scouse, bread, and
coffee was supplied to the rescued people, to which Captain Dawson
added some sherry and brandy for those in the cabin, and some West
India rum for the others. It is needless to say that the party sat down
to their meal with excellent appetites, and ate their food with a good
relish. Our captain apologized for the meagerness of the fare, but was
told in reply, that the banquet was fit for a king, and no apologies
were necessary.