Captain Turner, on being urged to provide some palatable food and drink,
declared with an oath that he did not select the provisions of fill the
water; that this was done by others who knew what they were about; that
every thing on board was good enough for us, and if we did not like it
we might starve and BE HANGED!
This was a clincher it ended the argument. There was nothing left for us
but to put the best face, even if it should be a wry face, on troubles
we could not overcome or diminish.
In a choice of food there is a wide difference in taste. One people will
regard as a luxury a viand or condiment which is repugnant to another.
Locusts have been used from time immemorial for food by different tribes
of Arabs. Snail soup was once regarded in Europe as a delicious dish.
In the West Indies and South America the guano, a species of lizard, is
devoured with gusto. Bird's nests command enormous prices as an edible
in China, where also dogs and cats are ordinary food. At Rome camels'
heels were a tidbit for an epicure. Whale's tongues ranked among the
delicacies feasted on by the Europeans in the middle centuries. The bark
of the palm tree is the abiding place of a large worm, which is sought
for, roasted, and devoured as a delicacy. In Brazil, a monkey pie is a
favorite dish, and the head of the monkey is made to protrude and show
its teeth above the crust by way of ornament. Indeed, habit, we are
told, will reconcile a person to unsavory diet. But neither habit nor
necessity could reconcile me to the food and drink which, to sustain
life, I was compelled to swallow on board the John.
The water, owing to causes to which I have already alluded, was
exceedingly offensive to the palate and the olfactories. It was also
slimy and ropy; and was drank only as a means and a wretched one of
prolonging life. For the inmates of the cabin the water was boiled or
diluted with brandy, which, in a slight degree, lessened its disgusting
flavor. But this was a luxury that was denied the seamen, who had to
quaff it in all its richness.
Our beef, in quality, was on a par with the water. It was Irish beef,
so called, wretchedly poor when packed; but having been stored in a hot
climate, probably for years, it had lost what little excellence it
once possessed, and acquired other qualities of which the packer never
dreamed. The effluvia arising from a barrel of this beef, when opened,
was intolerable. When boiled in clean salt water the strong flavor was
somewhat modified, and it was reduced by shrinkage at least one half.
The palate could not become reconciled to it; and the longer we lived
upon it the less we liked it.
But our bread! What shall I say of our bread? I have already spoken of
it as mouldy and ANIMATED. On several occasions, in the course of my
adventures, I have seen ship bread which could boast of those abominable
attributes, remnants of former voyages put on board ships by unfeeling
skinflints, to be "used up" before the new provisions were broached,
but I never met with any which possessed those attributes to the extent
which was the case on board the schooner John. Although many years have
passed since I was supported and invigorated by that "staff of life," I
cannot even now think of it without a shudder of disgust! On placing a
biscuit by my side when seated upon deck, it would actually be put in
motion by some invisible machinery, and if thrown on the hot coals in
order to destroy the living works within, and prevent the biscuit from
walking off, it would make an angry sputtering wondrous to hear!
Such was the character of our food and drink on our passage to the
United States. It initiated me, even at the beginning of my sea-going
career, into the most repulsive mysteries of a seaman's life. And
whenever, in subsequent voyages, I have been put upon poor diet, I
mentally contrasted it with the wretched fare during my second voyage to
sea, smacked my lips, and called it luxury.
Steering to the northward we passed near the Island of Sombrero, glided
from the Caribbean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, and wended our way
towards the Carolinas.
Sombrero is an uninhabited island, a few miles only in circumference.
It offers to the dashing waves on every side a steep, craggy cliff, from
thirty to fifty feet high. Its surface is flat, and entirely destitute
of vegetation; and at a distance, a fanciful imagination can trace, in
the outline of the island, a faint resemblance to the broad Spanish hat,
called a "sombrero," from which it takes its name.
This island, as well as all the other uninhabited islands in that part
of the world, has ever been a favorite resort for birds, as gulls of
several varieties, noddies, man-of-war birds, pelicans, and others. It
has recently been ascertained that Sombrero is entitled to the proud
appellation of "a guano island," and a company has been organized,
consisting of persons belonging to New England, for the purpose of
carrying off its rich deposits, which are of a peculiarly valuable
character, being found beneath a bed of coral limestone several feet
in thickness, and must consequently possess all the advantages which
antiquity can confer.
It was on this island, many years ago, that an English brig struck in
a dark night, while "running down the trades." The officers and crew,
frightened at the dashing of the breakers and the gloomy aspect of the
rocks which frowned upon them from above, made their escape on shore in
"double quick time," some of them marvellously thinly clad, even for
a warm climate. As soon as they had safely landed on the cliffs, and
congratulated each other on their good fortune, the brig, by a heave of
the sea, became disengaged from the rocks, and floating off, drifted to
leeward, to the great mortification of the crew, and was fallen in with
a day or two afterwards, safe and sound, near Anegada Reef, and carried
into St. Thomas. The poor fellows, who manifested such alacrity in
quitting "a sinking ship," suffered greatly from hunger and exposure.
They erected a sort of flagstaff, on which they displayed a jacket as a
signal of distress, and in the course of a few days were taken off by an
American vessel bound to Santa Cruz.
The feeling which prompts a person, in the event of a sudden danger at
sea, to quit his own vessel and look abroad for safety, appears to be
instinctive. In cases of collision, portions of the crews are sometimes
suddenly exchanged; and a man will find himself, unconscious of, an
effort, on board a strange vessel, then arouse himself, as if from an
unquiet sleep, and return to his ship as rapidly as he left her.
It sometimes happens that vessels, which have run into each other in the
night time, separate under circumstances causing awkward results.
The ship Pactolus, of Boston, bound from Hamburg through the English
channel, while running one night in a thick fog near the Goodwin Sands,
fell in with several Dutch galliots, lying to, waiting for daylight, and
while attempting to steer clear of one, ran foul of another, giving
the Dutchman a terrible shaking and carrying away one of the masts. The
captain, a young man, was below, asleep in his berth, dreaming, it may
be, of happy scenes in which a young and smiling "jung frow" formed a
prominent object. He rushed from his berth, believing his last hour was
come, sprang upon deck, and seeing a ship alongside, made one leap into
the chainwales of the strange vessel, and another one over the rail to
the deck. A moment afterwards the vessels separated; the galliot was
lost sight of in the fog, and Mynheer was astonished to find himself,
while clad in the airy costume of a shirt and drawers, safely and
suddenly transferred from his comfortable little vessel to the deck of
an American ship bound across the Atlantic.
The poor fellow jabbered away, in his uncouth native language, until his
new shipmates feared his jaws would split asunder. They furnished him
with garments, entertained him hospitably, and on the following day
landed him on the pier at Dover.
We met with no extraordinary occurrences on our passage to the United
States until we reached the Gulf Stream, noted for heavy squalls,
thunder storms, and a turbulent sea, owing to the effect on the
atmosphere produced by the difference of temperatures between the water
in the current and the water on each side.
The night on which we entered the Gulf Stream, off the coast of the
Carolinas, the weather was exceedingly suspicious. Dark, double-headed
clouds hung around the horizon, and although the wind was light, a
hurricane would not have taken us by surprise at any moment; and as the
clouds rose slowly with a threatening aspect, no calculation could be
made on which side the tempest would come. The lightnings illumined
the heavens, serving to render the gloom more conspicuous, and the
deep-toned rumblings of the thunder were heard in the distance.
At eight o'clock, when the watch was called, the schooner was put under
short canvas, and due preparations were made for any change in the
weather. The starboard watch was then told to go below, but to "be ready
for a call." This watch, all told, consisted of the old French carpenter
and myself, and we gladly descended into the narrow, leaky, steaming
den, called the forecastle, reposing full confidence in the vigilance of
our shipmates in the larboard watch, and knowing that if the ship should
be dismasted, or even capsized, while we were quietly sleeping below, it
would be through no fault of ours, and we could not be held responsible.
In five minutes after the forescuttle was closed, we were snugly
ensconced in our berths, oblivious of squalls and gales, and all the
disagreeable duties of making and taking in sail on a wet and stormy
night, enjoying a comfortable nap and dreaming of happy times on shore.
We were soon aroused from our dreams, and brought back to the realities
of life, by the rough voice of my old shipmate, Eastman, yelling out in
tones which would have carried terror to the soul of an Indian warrior,
"ALL HANDS AHOY! Tumble up, lads! Bear a hand on deck!" I jumped out of
my berth, caught my jacket in one hand, and my tarpaulin in the other,
and hastened on deck, closely followed by the carpenter, and also the
cook, whose office being little better than a sinecure, he was called
upon whenever help was wanted. The wind was blowing a gale, and the
rain was falling in heavy drops, and the schooner was running off to the
southward at a tremendous rate, with the wind on the quarter.
"There is a waterspout after us," exclaimed Captain Turner, as we made
our appearance, "and we must give it the slip, or be grabbed by Davy
Jones. Be alive for once! If that fellow comes over us, he will capsize,
perhaps sink us! Stand by!"
I looked astern, and saw, about a point on the larboard quarter, a
black, misshapen body, which seemed to reach from the heavens down to
the surface of the sea. Although the night was dark as Erebus, this mass
could easily be distinguished from the thick clouds which shut out the
stars, and covered the whole surface of the sky. It moved towards us
with fearful rapidity, being much fleeter in the race than our little
schooner.
The captain, who, to do him justice, was not only a good sailor, but
cool and resolute in the hour of danger, would fix his eye one moment on
the waterspout, and the next on the compass, in order to ascertain the
course which this unwelcome visitor was taking. A minute had scarcely
elapsed, during which every man breathed harder and quicker than he was
wont to do, being in a state of agonizing suspense, when Captain turner
decided on his plan of operations; and it was time, for the waterspout
was but a few hundred yards off, and came rushing towards us like a
ferocious monster intent on mischief.
"Stand by to gibe!" cried the captain. "Hard a-port your helm! Look out
for that foresheet." As the schooner fell off and again came gradually
to the wind, she shot across the hawse of the waterspout, which swept
closely along under our stern, almost spattering the water in our very
faces, and tearing and roaring like the cataract of Niagara!
We watched its progress with thrilling interest, and when it got upon
our quarter, and we were convinced it could not come on board, Captain
Turner called out in exulting tones, "We have dodged it handsomely boys,
and cheated Davy Jones of his prey this time. Hurrah!"
It is hardly necessary to say we all breathed easier as the waterspout
sailed majestically away, and in a few minutes was out of sight. This
was one of those occurrences which might well shake the nerves of the
most firm and courageous tar. Indeed, the whole scene on that memorable
night was far more akin to the sublime than the beautiful. There were
the heavy black clouds piled upon each other near the horizon, or
hanging loosely and dripping overhead, portending a fearful conflict
among the elements; there was the wind, which came in fitful gusts,
whistling and singing in mournful cadence among the blocks and rigging;
there was the agitated and furrowed face of the ocean, which had been
lashed to fury by successive storms, and lighted up in every direction
by innumerable brilliant phosphorescent particles, in which, it is well
known, the waters of the Gulf Stream abound; there were the rolling
echoes of the thunder, and the zig zag, chain lightning, which every
few seconds enveloped the heavens and the ocean in a frightful livid
garment; and, as if to cap the climax, there was the giant column,
darker, much darker than the dark clouds around us, reaching from those
clouds and resting on the waters, and threatening to sweep our whole
ship's company into eternity.
On the day succeeding our adventure with the waterspout, the wind
died away, although the heavy clouds still hung about the horizon. The
schooner, lying in the trough of the sea, was fearfully uneasy; but
towards night a regular gale of wind commenced, and our vessel was hove
to under a double-reefed foresail. It was near the close of the first
watch when the fore-topsail getting loose on the lee yard arm, I went
aloft to secure it. After I had accomplished this work, I lingered a few
minutes on the yard to enjoy the beauty of the storm. The waves, urged
by the fury of the gale, were breaking around us in majestic style;
the schooner was rocking to and fro, and occasionally took a lee lurch,
which made every timber in her bottom quiver.
I had finished my survey of the wind and weather, and was about to
descend to the deck, when I carelessly cast my eyes aloft, and there
beheld a sight which struck terror to my soul. On the very summit of the
main-topmast on the truck itself, was A HUGE BALL OF FIRE! It seemed
a mass of unearthly light of livid hue, which shed a dismal radiance
around. The rain fell at the time, but quenched it not; and the
heaviest gusts of wind served neither to extinguish it, nor increase its
brilliancy. It kept its station unmoved, shining terribly through the
storm, like some dread messenger, sent by a superior power to give
warning of impending disaster.
I was appalled with terror at the sight. Although by no means credulous
or superstitious, I could hardly resist the belief that this globe of
fire, which appeared thus suddenly in the midst of a furious storm,
at dead of night, and on a spot where it could not have been placed or
kindled by the hand of man, was of supernatural origin. I shuddered with
fear; a strange giddiness came over me; and I had hardly strength to
cling to the shrouds as I descended to the deck.
I pointed out the object of my terror to my watch-mate, the French
carpenter, who gazed at it earnestly, and then, turning to me, nodded
his head emphatically two or three times, like a Chinese mandarin, and
grinned. This pantomimic display was intended to convey much meaning
more than I could interpret. But it convinced me that the carpenter was
familiar with such sights, which, perhaps, were not very remarkable,
after all.
When the watch was called, I pointed out the fiery ball to Eastman, and
to Mr. Adams, the mate, and learned that the object which gave me such
a fright was not of very unfrequent occurrence during a gale of wind. It
was known among seamen by the name of CORPOSANT, or COMPLAISANT, being
a corruption of "cuerpo santo," the name it received from the Spaniards.
It is supposed to be formed of phosphorescent particles of jelly, blown
from the surface of the water during a storm, and which, clinging to the
rigging, gradually accumulate, and ascend until they reach the truck.
The mass remains there for a time, and then disappears. Sometimes it is
seen on the topsail yard or at the end of the flying jib-boom.
A few days afterwards, having crossed "the Gulf," we made the land off
the mouth of Savannah River; saw Tybee Lighthouse; took a pilot, and
proceeded up to the city. When we left St. Bartholomew, it was given out
that we were bound to Wilmington; on the passage we spoke a vessel, and
Captain Turner, on being questioned, said we were bound to Charleston.
For good and sufficient reasons, known to himself, he did not think
proper to gratify idle curiosity.
But while our shrewd captain was dexterously managing to deceive the
revenue officers, and obtain all the advantages of the fair trader,
a circumstance occurred through his own ignorance or neglect, which
brought about the very catastrophe he was taking such pains to avoid.
The cargo, as I have stated, consisted of only a few puncheons of rum.
A permit was obtained, and one morning they were landed on the wharf.
At that time there was a law of the United States which forbade the
importation of rum in casks containing less than ninety gallons. The
officer appointed to gauge the casks that were landed from the schooner
ascertained that one of them measured only seventy-eight gallons. He
proclaimed the fact, and hastened to the Custom House to notify the
collector. In the mean time, Mr. Howard, the merchant who transacted
business for Captain Turner, heard of the affair, and, accompanied by
the captain, came on board.
Instead of acknowledging an involuntary violation of law, and
explaining to the collector the cause of the error, these gentlemen very
imprudently ordered the objectionable cask to be rolled in on deck, and
all hands were set at work to transfer its contents to an empty water
cask, which was of greater capacity than ninety gallons. The trick might
have succeeded had the revenue officers allowed sufficient time. The
work was commenced, and the liquor was running out, making a gurgling
noise, when down came the collector with a numerous posse at his heels!
We were caught in the very act. A war of words ensued; but the
explanations given under the attendant circumstances were so
unsatisfactory, that the vigilant chief of the customs clapped his broad
mark on the mainmast, and seized the vessel and the unfortunate cask of
rum in the name and behalf of the United States!