THE STRANDED STEAMER IN THE BALTIC.
On the morning of the first day of July, at nine o'clock, the squadron
had accomplished half the distance from Danzig to the mouth of the
Oder, or rather to Swinemünde, on the outlet of the Haff to the Baltic.
This Haff is the estuary of the Oder, and forms a considerable lake
inside of the two islands which separate it from the sea.
All hands were called, and the merit-roll for the preceding month
was read by the principal, so that the students might know who were
eligible to the elective offices. There was hardly a change in the
relative rank, for very little had been done upon the lessons during
the month. The most remarkable event was, that Scott came out No.
16, which gave him the rank of fourth midshipman. The joker was a
first-class seaman, and probably he owed his good fortune largely to
the several examinations in nautical matters, though he had exerted
himself more than ever before in the scholastic department. The reading
of his name in this connection called forth a shout of applause. As
usual, Lincoln and Cumberland had the highest number of marks, and
Cantwell was the third. De Forrest and Beckwith stood at the foot of
the list, for they had been absent from most of the recitations during
the month. Cumberland was not eligible to the office of commodore.
Lincoln, Cantwell, and the two captains of the consorts were the only
candidates for this position.
"Of course Cantwell will be chosen," sneered De Forrest. "This thing is
played out, and all I want is a chance to get off."
"I don't believe you will find any such chance," replied Beckwith. "I
don't think we have made anything by running away."
"We had a good time while we were away."
"I didn't. You tagged after that girl, and made me follow you. Now she
has cut you."
"I'll get even with Lincoln on that yet."
"I don't believe you will. It isn't his fault. When the girl found out
that you had run away from the ship, she wouldn't look at you again.
That's the whole of it," replied Beckwith.
While they were talking, the word was passed for all hands to assemble
in the waist to hold a caucus for the nomination of officers.
"Scott has got into the cabin, and I don't believe he will lead all the
fellows in the steerage by the nose now," said De Forrest. "I suppose
he will try to make Cantwell commodore."
The meeting was organized by the choice of Ryder, the second master, as
chairman, and Vroome as secretary.
"The meeting is ready for business," said the chairman.
"I move that Captain Langdon, of the Josephine, be nominated for
commodore," shouted De Forrest.
"Second the motion," added Lincoln, promptly.
"Question," called several.
The motion was put, and voted down without a count.
De Forrest tried again with the name of Captain Wolff, of the Tritonia,
in order to throw out Lincoln and Cantwell, and Beckwith seconded his
motion.
"I don't think this is a fair thing, Mr. Chairman," said De Forrest. "A
great deal has been said about fair play; but now the ship's company of
the Young America want to nominate for commodore, without giving the
students in the consorts any voice in the matter."
"I desire to say, for the information of the last speaker, that an
arrangement has been made by which the ship is to have the office of
commodore for two months out of four, while the consorts are to have it
the other two months," interposed Cumberland.
"I don't recognize any such arrangement," replied De Forrest, angrily.
This remark was greeted with a shout of laughter, for the runaway spoke
as though he had the control of the whole matter.
"If the speaker had been on board at Cronstadt when the agreement was
made, he would understand it better," said the chairman. "The question
is upon the nomination of Captain Wolff."
It was voted down almost unanimously.
"I move that Captain Cantwell be nominated," said Billy Bobstay, who
was filled with gratitude at the generous conduct of the captain
towards him.
"I second the motion," added Lincoln.
"Mr. Chairman, I wish to decline being considered a candidate. I cannot
accept the nomination on any conditions," said Cantwell, in a loud,
clear, and decided voice.
His remark was hailed with the most emphatic applause; and Cantwell
hastened to Billy Bobstay, and begged him to withdraw his motion, which
he did.
"If there is no objection, the motion may be withdrawn," said the
chairman.
"I object," interposed Lincoln.
"Then I hope the ship's company will vote it down, as a favor to me, if
for no other reason," added Cantwell.
"Question!" called the impatient seamen.
It was voted down, but in a mild and gentle manner, which indicated
that the students did not do so from any ill will to Cantwell.
"Now, Mr. Chairman, I nominate Commodore Lincoln for reëlection,"
continued the captain.
The motion was seconded, and carried with only a single voice against
it, and that was De Forrest's, his "no" being uttered in the most
malignant tone.
"Mr. Chairman," shouted Scott, as soon as this question was settled, "I
made a speech somewhere up north of here, among the eternal solitudes
of nature, and all that sort of thing, you know. I went in for fair
play then, as I do now. Some of us didn't vote the regular nominations
at the election, and the consequence was, that Captain Cantwell
was chosen. I think he has made a very good captain, and been very
courteous and gentlemanly to all hands. I shall therefore move that he
be nominated again."
"Mr. Chairman," said Cantwell, interrupting the applause which
followed the joker's speech. "I am very much obliged to those who
have supported me, and for this kind response to the motion of the
last speaker; but I have already made up my mind not to accept the
nomination of captain. In the excitement of the last election, I was
chosen to a position for which I was not as competent as many others. I
have done my best to improve in seamanship, but I will no longer occupy
a place for which others are better fitted than I am."
Scott persisted, and Cantwell was nominated; but he positively declined
to accept the nomination, though most of the students supposed he was
declining for effect, at first. Finally, the principal interposed,
for there could be no doubt that the captain was fully in earnest.
Cumberland was then nominated for captain, and Cantwell for first
lieutenant. Judson, Norwood, and Sheridan were selected for the
other three elective places. The balloting was commenced, and all
the nominees of the caucus were chosen. The result of the vote for
commodore was signalled from each of the consorts, and Lincoln was
reëlected.
"That's what I call fair play," said Scott.
"Yes, it is; but those same fellows will be chosen as long as they
remain in the ship," replied Wainwright, who was now the fourth master.
"Well, they don't remain much longer," replied Scott. "Nearly all of
the fellows in the highest offices will be graduated this summer, and
I suppose they will leave. That will open the way for others. I wonder
how I shall feel in a frock coat."
"Probably you will feel good, as all the others do," answered
Wainwright, as he led the way into the cabin, where he was presented by
the commodore to Miss Gurney and the Kinnairds.
"I am glad to see you here, Scott," said Cantwell, taking him by the
hand.
"I'm afraid there is some blunder in the reckoning," replied Scott.
Lincoln had been most heartily congratulated by the ship's guests on
his reëlection, and Miss Gurney could not help expressing to Cantwell
her admiration of his unselfish conduct. Everybody seemed to be
satisfied with the result of the election, except De Forrest. The new
plan, of which he claimed the authorship, worked very well, and the
students were obtaining some experience in the machinery of politics.
Clyde Blacklock, who, when he found it was useless to attempt to run
away, or to resist the authority of the ship, had exerted himself to
learn and to do his duty, was particularly pleased with the result of
his struggles during the month. He was a young man of good parts, and
had the English love of invigorating sports. He had taken kindly to his
duty, and had made great proficiency during the two months he had been
on board. He was the coxswain of the second cutter, and he was prouder
of the position than many who had won places in the cabin. Some of the
crew of the boat were inclined to sneer at him, but he took especial
pains to conciliate them.
On the afternoon of the election day it rained, and the guests were
compelled to remain in the cabin; but the young officers who were not
on duty did their best to entertain them. At night a dense fog set in;
but the wind was fair, and the squadron held on its course, and having
the starboard tacks aboard, the fog-horns were blown every two minutes.
The next morning, at seven bells, pilots were taken, just as the fog
began to lift, though it still lay over the land on the port bow.
Repeated whistles, as of a steamer, were heard from this direction,
and the pilot of the ship declared that some vessel was in distress,
probably a steamer, which had run ashore in the fog.
"Steamer aground on the port bow," shouted the lookout forward, half an
hour later.
"I see her!" exclaimed Captain Cumberland, who had placed himself in
the lee mizzen-shrouds. "She is on a sand-bank."
The ship was within half a mile of the steamer, but the pilot declared
that it was not prudent to go any nearer. Two guns from the grounded
vessel announced that she needed assistance.
"Mr. Cantwell, call all hands; clear away the second cutter," said the
captain.
"All hands, on deck; second cutters, clear away your boat!" piped the
boatswain, when the first officer had given the order.
"Now, heave her to," added the captain.
"Man the main clew-garnets and buntlines!" shouted Cantwell; and his
orders were repeated by the other officers at their stations. "Let go
the lee braces! Down with the helm, quartermaster!"
"Down, sir," responded the quartermaster at the wheel.
"Up mainsail! Brace her aback!"
The ship rounded up into the wind, the main topsail swung round, and
in a few moments the headway of the vessel was checked.
"Mr. Scott, in charge of the second cutter!" continued the first
lieutenant.
Scott leaped lightly into the boat.
"Lower away!" said Cantwell, as soon as it was prudent to drop the boat
into the water.
"Up oars!" shouted Clyde Blacklock, the new coxswain, proud and happy
to have a real duty to perform. "Let fall! Give way together!" And away
went the second cutter over the waves towards the stranded steamer.
Mr. Lowington thought it best to send another boat, and the first
cutter, pulling twelve oars, was despatched, in charge of Sheridan.
The second cutter was far ahead of her, and was the first to reach the
unfortunate vessel, which proved to be one of the mail steamers from
Stockholm. She had run her bow hard on a sand-bank, and then toppled
over on her starboard side, her stern nearly submerged in the deep
water.
"Way enough!" said Clyde, as the cutter approached her gangway.
Scott stood behind the bowman, ready to step on board as soon as the
boat was secured.
"O Clyde! My son!" shouted a lady among the passengers. "Save us! Save
us!"
"That's my mother!" exclaimed the coxswain, as Scott leaped upon the
deck.
"Don't be alarmed, madam. You are perfectly safe," said the fourth
midshipman, as he approached the captain, whom he easily recognized by
his dress and appearance. "You seem to be in a tight place."
[Illustration: THE STRANDED STEAMER. PAGE 330.]
The captain, who was a German, did not seem to understand this remark,
though he spoke English.
"You belong to the boy-ship?" said he.
"The Academy Ship, sir. What can we do for you?" replied Scott.
"I want a steamer to pull me off."
"Then I don't know that we can do anything for you."
"You can send a steamer, if you are going on to Swinemünde. My
passengers are very much frightened, though there is no danger, unless
we have a storm."
"We will take off your passengers, sir."
"Thank you; that will relieve them. I have only ten."
The second cutter was swung round, and the officers of the steamer
assisted the passengers into the boat. As the first cutter soon
arrived, a part of them were placed on board of her.
"O Clyde, Clyde!" exclaimed Mrs. Blacklock, as she hugged her boy. "I
thought I should never see you again."
"Come, mother, don't be too demonstrative. You will make all the
fellows laugh at me."
"I'm so glad to see you, Clyde!" added Miss Celia Blacklock, his sister.
Clyde kissed them both, and then begged them to allow him to attend to
his duty.
"Up oars!" shouted he, with vigor. "Shove off!"
"I am so glad to get out of that steamer!" added Mrs. Blacklock. "I
thought we should all be drowned."
"Let fall!" said Clyde, too much interested in his new duties even to
heed his mother. "Stern, all! Give way!"
"And I'm very, very glad to find you again, Clyde!" continued the lady.
"Oars! Now give way together!" and Clyde gathered up his tiller-ropes,
and for the first time had an opportunity to attend to his mother, whom
he had not seen for nearly three months.
The young Englishman was an only son, and his mother a widow, who
had been utterly unable to manage him, after she had spoiled him by
early indulgence. The youth had a freak, when he saw the Academy Ship,
that he should like to join her, but soon changed his mind. As the
institution seemed to be the only means of saving him from his own
folly and wilfulness, Mrs. Blacklock had reluctantly permitted Mr.
Lowington to take the control of him. Though he had run away, and had
been subjected to sharp but excellent discipline, he had done very well
as soon as he found it was no longer possible for him to have his own
way.
"I have been looking for you these two months, Clyde," said his mother.
"Where have you been?"
Clyde told her where he had been.
"I went to St. Petersburg, but the ship had not been there, and I
returned to Stockholm, and have spent the last month in Sweden."
"We were rusticating among the islands in the Gulf of Bothnia while you
were looking for me."
"Why haven't you written to me, Clyde?"
"I did not know where you were."
"I hope you have had enough of the sea," sighed his mother.
"I am just beginning to like it first rate. Don't you see I am an
officer?"
"Are you the captain of the ship?"
"Well, no; not exactly that, mother; but I am in command of this boat."
Scott turned away, and laughed, as did the stroke oarsman, who also
heard the remark.
"I want you to go with me now. I am very, very lonely without you,"
added Mrs. Blacklock.
"Not much, as the Americans say," replied Clyde, shaking his head.
"Much what, my son?"
"I don't want to leave the ship. I have done very well, and I am going
to be the captain of her one of these days. I have been studying
geometry, and algebra, and navigation, and French, and German; and a
fellow can learn something in that ship. It's the best school I ever
went to.--Way enough!" said the new coxswain, as the cutter approached
the gangway of the Young America, the steps of which had been rigged
out as soon as it was seen that ladies were coming on board.
The passengers of the stranded steamer were assisted to the deck, the
boats hoisted up, and the ship filled away. Mrs. Blacklock and her
daughter, as well as the others, were cordially welcomed on board by
the principal. Breakfast was immediately served for them, and they were
made as happy as possible by the young officers, though only a few of
the new guests spoke English.
"I want to take Clyde away now, Mr. Lowington," said Mrs. Blacklock,
as the ship was entering the harbor of Swinemünde.
"I would not, madam. He is doing exceedingly well on board," replied
the principal. "He was surly and dissatisfied for a time, but now he
takes an interest in his studies, and is making rapid progress. He is a
good sailor, too."
"But I miss him very, very much."
"I dare say you do; but you ought to think of the boy's good. I never
had a more hopeful case in the ship than he is just now. I am confident
we shall make a man of him if you allow us to do so."
Clyde was called up to speak for himself, and he begged that his mother
would not think of such a thing as removing him. He would write to her
every week. The weak lady finally consented, when the youth declared
that he would be captain of the ship in due time.
The squadron came to anchor at Swinemünde, and a boat was immediately
sent on shore, with the passengers who wished to land, and with an
officer to inform the agents of the steamer of her condition.
Arrangements had already been made for sight-seeing in this part of
Germany, and the whole ship's company were to make an excursion to
Berlin and other places. The Kinnairds and the Blacklocks were to go
with them. The party, after remaining on board over Sunday, embarked in
the regular steamer for Stettin, which is a four-hours' trip, on Monday
and arrived at two o'clock in the afternoon. Having an hour or more to
spare before taking the train for Berlin, they had an opportunity to
see the principal street of the town, and to visit the old castle, but
there was nothing of special interest in the place.
The train left Stettin at half past three, and arrived in Berlin at
six. The officers and seamen had again been arranged in four divisions,
so as not to overwhelm any hotel, and to enable those in charge of them
to exercise a proper supervision. Dr. Winstock had gone up to the city
to make arrangements for their accommodation, and was at the station
on the arrival of the tourists with omnibuses and droschkes enough
to convey them to the hotels. The Kinnairds, with the surgeon and
the commodore, went to the Hotel de Rome, _Unter den Linden_, as the
principal street of the city is called.