of the quickest passages on record between New York and China. His last
command afloat was in the ship _Challenge_, which he took from New York
to San Francisco. Captain Philip Dumaresq, of Boston, who last sailed in
the ship _Florence_ in the China trade with New York, ranked high during
his whole service afloat. At sea he never took his clothes off to turn
in at night, that he might always be on hand to spring on deck. The
quickest passage on record from Shanghai (China) to New York was made in
the ship _Swordfish_ by Captain Crocker. Though becalmed a week on the
equator, he made the run in 84 days, and beat the overland mail from
India a week. It was stated in a San Francisco paper that the _Young
America_ made the passage from New York in less time than the _Flying
Cloud_, but it was not confirmed. One hundred days was considered quick
time for an outward passage. The ship _Northern Light_ made the passage
from San Francisco to Boston in 76 days. She was in ballast, and had
fair winds all the way.
To show the rapidity with which clippers were built, the ship _John
Bertram_, of 1080 tons, was launched six weeks from the time her keel
was laid, and in two weeks more was on her way from Boston for San
Francisco with 1500 tons of cargo on board. When she was launched, her
builder, Mr. Robert E. Jackson, fell overboard; her owner, Captain
William T. Glidden, plunged after him, without even taking off his coat,
and saved him. Old sailors predicted that she would be unlucky, yet she
kept afloat thirty years afterward, and cleared her original cost a
dozen times.
[Illustration: A CLIPPER-BRIGANTINE.]
In 1855 there were 268 ships of an average of 1200 tons each under our
flag, and most of them were clippers. In addition to these there were
many barks, brigs, and schooners remarkable for beauty of model and
famous for speed. From 1849 to the breaking out of the civil war we had
the cream of the carrying trade of the world. After that our shipping
declined rapidly; many of our famous clippers were sold to avoid
capture. Steam navigation has superseded sails in the China and
Mediterranean trade, and to-day there are not a dozen clipper-ships left
under our flag.
When gold was discovered in Australia, the British purchased many of our
fine clippers, which were very successful in their passages. The
emigrants from British ports soon preferred them to their own vessels,
on account of their spacious between-decks and high rate of speed. We
also shared largely in the trade, and for several years kept regular
lines of swift ships, laden with American goods, which found a ready
market in Melbourne. After the adaptation of iron to ship-building, the
British copied our clipper lines for most of their new sailing-vessels,
and now compete successfully with us in carrying heavy cargoes. Iron
ships have the preference in carrying grain from San Francisco to
Europe.
In 1813 a vessel from China received a pilot off Cape Cod in a fog, and
kept close inshore to avoid two British frigates which were in the bay.
When off Plymouth the fog lifted and revealed the frigates about two
miles distant, which instantly made all sail in chase. It was only
half-flood, and the pilot was afraid that there was not water enough to
run in; but he took the chances and succeeded, though both vessels
opened fire upon him. Fortunately there was a company of militia on hand
with a field-piece, which protected the ship against the boats that were
despatched to cut her out. All the men of the place turned out and soon
landed her cargo, composed of teas and silks, and then stripped the ship
to her lower masts, apprehensive that the boats might make a night
attack on her. But they did not.
William Gray, a rich ship-owner, had a clipper-bark which had been
knocking about in the West Indies in search of freight. A vessel laden
with sugar put into St. Thomas in distress, and sold her cargo, which
the American purchased as a venture. She ran the blockade, and Mr. Gray
was the first to board her. "Captain," he said, nervously, "I see you're
very deep; what have you got in?" "Sugar," was the brief reply,
"purchased on the ship's account." He felt that he had made no mistake,
especially as Mr. Gray threw his hat in the air before he responded.
Picking up his hat, Mr. Gray faced the Captain with a pleasant smile,
and said, "It's just our luck, Captain; you have not only saved your
ship, but this day there are not fifty boxes of sugar in all Boston, and
prices are sky-high."
Early in the century Salem had some swift vessels engaged in the East
India and China trade, but these have mostly disappeared.
Although large clipper-ships have mostly disappeared, we have many fine
clipper-schooners engaged in fishing, which are unequalled for speed and
weatherly qualities by the fishermen of all other nations. Change is the
order of the day in shipping, as well as in most other things. The
navies of the world have been changed three times during the past fifty
years. The huge wooden ships of the line and frigates were displaced by
the application of steam, and these have been superseded by iron and
steel; and the end is not yet, for inventors assert that electricity
will be the motive power on the ocean as well as on the land.
WITH THE THANKS OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
BY WILLIAM DRYSDALE.
"Yes, the boy is in a bad way," Dr. Murray said, with his fingers on
Frank's pulse; "a very bad way. This is a serious case. Why not let me
take him out to Tortugas? We have plenty of fresh air there, and I
should like to have him with me."
"To Tortugas?" Mrs. Bethel exclaimed. "To the quarantine station? Why,
you are liable to have yellow fever cases there any day! Oh, doctor, I
never could let him go out there!"
"Do you think I would take him into any danger?" the doctor laughed. "It
is much safer there than in Key West. Our quarters are in the great
fort, but the pest-house is on Bird Key, half a mile away. I do not know
of any place in the far South that has as good a summer climate, for the
wind strikes us on every side, as we are seventy miles from land. And as
to danger--pshaw!"
With Frank eager to go and his mother anxious to have his health
improved, there was not much doubt that in the end the doctor's
invitation would be accepted. That was the way it turned out, and when
the doctor's steam-launch started from the naval depot wharf two days
later, Frank was in the little cabin with the doctor, and his trunk was
stowed away somewhere up forward.
"Now for a quick run to 'Tugas, let us hope!" the doctor exclaimed, as
the launch began to cut through the clear water of Key West Harbor.
"Eight-thirty; we ought to be there by four-thirty this evening, unless
the weather changes. We can't risk any rough seas in this launch, you
know. If a storm should come up, we'd have to take refuge on one of the
four or five keys between here and 'Tugas. Do you know that Fort
Jefferson is the hardest place in the United States for a traveller to
reach, Frank, unless he has a government boat to travel in?"
The Gulf was as smooth as a pond, as it often is in summer, and every
minute Frank could see fish darting through the transparent water, and
great turtles and sea-fans and brain-stones on the bottom. He was as
much excited over it as if he had been starting for China.
"There's something ahead," he exclaimed, about the middle of the
afternoon, "that I should say was a city growing right out of the water
if I didn't know that it must be the great fort. But there can hardly be
any fort as big as that. Is that really it, doctor?"
"That is really the fort," the doctor answered, "and I think we will be
there now inside of an hour."
"But it seems to stand right in the water!" Frank exclaimed. "I don't
see any land around it at all!"
"It would take good eyes to see any land around it," the doctor replied,
with a twinkle in his own eyes. "You see, the island was only five acres
in extent, and they built a fort covering seven acres, so the
foundations were laid right out in the water."
When they were near enough to see plainly, Frank did not try to conceal
his delight.
"What an immense building!" he exclaimed. "I never imagined there was
such a big building in the world. No wonder it cost thirty millions! And
there are roofs and chimneys inside the walls, and palm-trees waving
over the top. I didn't know they had chimneys on a fort, doctor, and
palm-trees?"
"They do in this one," the doctor laughed. "The roofs and chimneys
belong to the officers' quarters and barracks, and the palm-trees have
been growing ever since the fort was dismantled, thirty years ago."
Once inside the great walls, they were in a large yard grown up with
palms and bushes; and crossing this, they entered the officers'
quarters, where Dr. Murray had his office and living-rooms. Such big
rooms, too, with great open fireplaces, and broad halls with iron
staircases.
"Now make yourself at home, Frank," the doctor told him. "The whole
place is open to you, and you can go anywhere you like."
For an hour or more he wandered alone among the open casemates, dodging
around conical piles of cannon-balls, patting the immense but
long-silent columbiads. Then the doctor joined him for a short time
before dinner in the vaulted casemates.
"There are so many rusty machines here, doctor!" Frank exclaimed. "This
looks like a little furnace. What do you suppose it was for?"
"That was for heating cannon-balls," the doctor answered, "so that they
could fire hot shot into a hostile ship."
"And this thing looks like an oven big enough to supply a city."
"It is an oven," the doctor explained. "This is the fort's oven. You
know at one time there were nearly three thousand people here, prisoners
and garrison, and all their bread was baked in this brick oven. That is
the reason it is almost as big as a house."
"And this great machine in the bastion?" Frank asked. "It looks
something like a steam-engine; but it is rusty enough to fall to
pieces."
"Ah, I am glad you reminded me of that!" the doctor explained. "I must
caution you about the water-tanks. That big machine is a condenser,
Frank. So many people required not only a great deal of bread, but a
great deal of water, too, and no fresh water is to be had out of this
coral rock. So this big condenser was put up. It pumped water out of the
Gulf and converted it into steam, and when the steam condensed into
water again the water was fresh. This old machine used to run day and
night at one time.
"Then," the doctor went on, "they had to have places to store the water,
of course. For that purpose they built a system of water-tanks under the
entire fort. Under every one of these lower casemates there is a great
stone tank twenty or thirty feet square and ten or twelve feet deep; and
they are all connected, so that now when they are not full you could go
under the whole fort through the tanks. I suppose there is not another
series of water-tanks like them in the whole country. They have not been
used for years, but a little rain-water still flows in from the roofs,
so that the water is always two or three feet deep in them. It is a
dark, slimy place down in the tanks.
"And that is what I want to caution you about," he continued. "You see
in the stone floor of every one of these lower casemates there is a trap
about two and a half feet square, covered with a square stone with an
iron ring in the centre. Those traps lead down to the tanks. Sometimes
one of the covers is lifted and is carelessly left off. I want you to be
very careful about them if you come into the casemates at night, for it
would be an ugly thing to tumble into the tanks. Here, I will lift this
cover and let you look down."
[Illustration: "UGH!" FRANK EXCLAIMED; "WHAT A GHOSTLY PLACE!"]
"Ugh!" Frank exclaimed, drawing back from the black hole. "What a
ghostly place! I suppose that stagnant water is full of all sorts of
creatures, too!"
The dinner bell called them back to their quarters, and Frank found that
the quarantine establishment comprised about eighteen persons, including
the doctors and nurses, engineers, boatmen, and laborers; and these,
with the ordnance sergeant and the light-house-keeper, were the sole
inhabitants of the big fort.
After dinner the doctor was busy, but Frank went out alone into the soft
moonlight to enjoy the cool evening breeze. He soon made the
acquaintance of the ordnance sergeant, and together they climbed the
solid stone stairs in one of the bastions up to the upper casemates.
"Why, this is like fairy-land, if there is such a place!" Frank
exclaimed. "Just see the moonshine through the long rows of brick
arches! What a tre_men_dous big place! And the water looks like silver
outside, and in the enclosure everything is dark green."
"This is only one section of the fort that you see," the sergeant said,
smiling at Frank's enthusiasm. "There are six sections just like this.
To-morrow I will take you up on the parapets. You can almost see Cuba
from there, but not quite."
"And to think that three thousand people once lived on this little
island!" Frank exclaimed. "They must have been packed pretty thickly in
these casemates."
For days Frank spent all his spare time in wandering about the great
fort, sometimes alone, and sometimes with the doctor or sergeant. There
were so many queer things to see! And everything was so solid and
warlike! And every evening while the moon lasted he climbed to the upper
casemates to enjoy the silvery water and the cool breeze.
But after a while the moon disappeared and the nights became dark. Then
he moved about with caution, for the bushes in the enclosure tripped
him, and the vastness and silence of the great place awed him. Late one
evening, after he had said good-night to the ordnance sergeant and was
thinking of going to bed, the notion occurred to him:
"How terrible it must have been to be shut up for months in one of those
lower casemates, with only a big columbiad and a pile of shells for
company! It makes a fellow shiver just to think of it!"
"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, a moment later. "I don't like this being scared
at a shadow. I'm going over to some of those cells this minute, just to
punish myself. I know every inch of the way now, and can easily find
them in the dark."
He started across the enclosure, picking his way carefully among the
bushes. The long grass tripped him, but he persevered. Once he ran plump
against something tall and hard, and after feeling it with his hand he
knew just where he was, for it was the tombstone of Major Smith, who
died in the fort of yellow fever in 1867, and was buried on the spot.
That made his flesh creep just a little bit, but he kept on. After he
reached the sally-port, which always stood wide open, he turned to the
right, dodging piles of solid shot, a fallen partition, and an old
steam-engine. In a minute more he was in front of the casemate he
wanted--not the casemate which he had stood in so many times already to
look out upon the sea, but a particularly gloomy one he remembered. He
stepped into the casemate, about two feet higher than the ground, and
the thick darkness staggered him for a moment. But he would not back out
now. Slowly he groped his way across the stone floor.
Crash! In a second he saw a thousand stars shooting, and like a flash he
thought he realized that some one had struck him a blow on the head.
"Help! help! help!" he shouted. "Murder! help! help!"
He put up a hand to ward off a second blow, and found that it was
dripping wet. Blood, perhaps! Something was trickling down his face.
Maybe that was blood too! He was dripping all over. He tried to run, but
he could not, for something held his feet. He was standing in water
above his knees!
Then he realized his terrible situation. Somebody had uncovered the trap
in the casemate and left it open, and he had fallen into the tank. He
was down in that horrible, black, slimy pit. Perhaps he had struck his
head in falling, but the water had broken the fall.
"Help! help!" he cried, when this dawned upon him. But he soon stopped
that. All the men, he knew, were on the opposite side of the fort, and
probably all in bed. There was not the faintest hope of making any one
hear if he shouted all night. To climb out was impossible, for the hole
was six feet above his head, in the middle of the ceiling. He was doomed
to spend the night in that dreadful place, and in the morning he might
hope to attract attention.
How long he stood there, shivering with the damp chill and with terror,
he does not know. It was long enough, at any rate, to make him fear that
he might lose his senses before morning, and fall and be drowned in the
slimy black water. Perhaps older fellows than Frank would have shivered
with fear in that awful black vault.
He had pulled himself together enough to try to dry his upper clothes,
when he was startled by a slight noise overhead. Yes, he was sure he
heard a noise; and the next moment he heard a voice. Ah! surely a human
voice never sounded so sweet before! He had his mouth ready to cry out
for help, when he caught a word or two that made him pause to listen.
"I tell you I'll wait no longer," the voice said. "They're all in bed
before this, and we're going to work. Come on."
Frank was familiar with all the voices in the fort, but this was a
strange voice. Evidently strangers had landed; but what could they mean
by going to work at night?
He still waited to listen, but instead of more words he heard the tread
of feet overhead. Could they be going away? Whoever the men were, he
must have help, and he would have called out in a second more if-- Hark!
There was a grating on the stones above, then a glimmer of light, as if
from a lantern. Then another strange thing happened. By the dim light he
saw the end of a ladder come down through the trap--not the trap over
his head, but two casemates further down, nearer the sally-port.
By the same dim light Frank saw that the tanks were connected by broad
brick arches, through which the water flowed from one to another. The
ladder was let all the way down, and down it came four men, one after
another, one carrying the lantern, all carrying hammers and saws, and
all strangers. Frank was so surprised that he could do nothing but stand
still and watch. There was no danger of his being seen, for he was in
the deep gloom; but he could see every move the men made, as they
carried the light.
The men seemed to know the ground thoroughly, for they waded off through
the water without hesitation, going in the opposite direction from
Frank. Through two of the brick arches they went, then up to the front
wall of the tank, and began to use their hammers and saws briskly.
Frank saw that the wall was covered with a perfect maze of pipes, both
iron and lead, and that made it all plain to him. These men were
thieves, and they were cutting away the lead pipes to steal them.
Perhaps the strange situation sharpened his wits. At any rate, Frank saw
that the men were all absorbed in their work two casemates beyond the
ladder, and without waiting a moment longer he waded silently but
swiftly down to the foot of the ladder, flew up its rounds like an
athlete, and drew the ladder up after him. That left the thieves
securely trapped in the tanks. The stars were shining brightly now, and
half wild with joy at his release Frank rushed across the enclosure.
"Help! help! help!" he shouted again. "Thieves! thieves!"
His friends could hear him plainly enough now that he was outside; and
when Frank told his story they made short work of capturing the burglars
and taking possession of their sloop that waited by the wharf.
"Those fellows have been here before," the men reported who were sent
down into the tanks: "they have cut away miles of lead pipe."
The doctor saw that Frank was nearly used up with the excitement, and
insisted upon his having a cup of hot coffee and going to bed.
"You have made an important discovery," he said, "and the War Department
ought to have something to say to you for it. Those fellows must have
taken hundreds of dollars' worth of pipes, and I think we can recover
them. I shall make a report to the Department, of course."
It was not long before nearly $1600 worth of lead pipes were recovered
in Key West, where they had been taken; and when Frank went home late in
the fall, as strong and brown as any mother could ask to see her son, he
found a big letter waiting for him, without any stamps on the envelope,
but printed in the corner, "War Department, Adjutant-General's Office.
Official business."
"Mr. Frank Bethel," the letter said:
"DEAR SIR,--The Secretary of War has learned from Dr. R. D. Murray,
and from other official sources, of the recovery, through your
efforts, of a large amount of government property stolen from Fort
Jefferson.
"I am therefore directed to forward you the enclosed check for one
hundred dollars, with the thanks of the War Department.
Respectfully yours,
"J. W. ARMSTRONG, Chief Clerk."
"Phew!" Frank exclaimed. "I'm glad the War Department don't know how
scared I was down in those tanks!"
[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
The interest in golf among the schools of the country seems to be
growing rapidly, and at a number of the large out-of-town schools, as
has already been told in this Department, courses have been laid out,
and tournaments have been held, notably at St. Paul's School, Concord,
Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, and at Lawrenceville.
[Illustration: BERKELEY SCHOOL GOLF CUP.]
The first scholastic tournament to be held in New York was that played
by the students of Berkeley on Election day. The competition was medal
play for a cup offered by Dr. White, the winner to receive an individual
cup in addition to having his name engraved on the championship cup,
which is to remain in the possession of the School Athletic Association.
Great interest was taken in this tournament, and although H. M. Bowers,
one of the best golfers in school, was unable to take part, the
competition brought out some good play. The tournament was held at the
Van Cortlandt Park links, and there were fifteen entries. Studwell won
by an easy margin of seven strokes over Granbery, who came in second.
Summary of the match: G. Stuart Studwell, Jun., out, 63; in, 60--total,
123. E. Carleton Granbery, out, 73; in, 57--total, 130. Theodore R.
Pell, out, 67; in, 66--total, 133. Cornelius S. Pinkney, out, 76; in,
64--total, 140.
The last three holes on the Van Cortlandt course are long ones, the
equivalent in distance to the total of the first six, the distance
between the eighth and ninth holes being nearly half a mile. Thus a
score of 60 on this course at Van Cortlandt Park would seem to be about
as good as 50 on an ordinary course where the holes are shorter.
[Illustration: THE VAN CORTLANDT PARK GOLF COURSE.--THE THIRD HOLE.]
The Van Cortlandt Park course has only recently been opened to the
public, but doubtless it will soon become one of the most popular in the
neighborhood of the city. The first hole is an open one, and may very
well be made in three strokes. There are two obstacles before the second
hole, a stone wall and a brook, but a long drive ought to clear both of
these. A skilful player can make this hole in three, but the ordinary
player will doubtless require four strokes, by reason of falling short
of the stone wall.
There is a bunker that even the unskilful player should be able to drive
over toward the third hole. On the way to the fourth there is another
stone wall, just beyond which is a hazard in the form of a dry
river-bed. The third stone wall lies on the road to the fifth hole, and
ought to be cleared with the second shot. It is unadvisable to attempt
to drive over it, unless one is particularly skilful.
[Illustration: THE VAN CORTLANDT PARK GOLF COURSE.--A TYPICAL
HAZARD.]
The sixth hole is a very short one. It starts with an easy hazard, a
little ditch not more than ten yards from the tee, which anybody but the
most inexperienced should be able to drive over safely. The return trip
consists of only three holes, but they are all harder than any of the
preceding. There is long grass, and the railroad track along the right
of the first two, and then the shore of a pond as a boundary for the
ninth. Therefore any swaying to the right will prove expensive; to the
left the ground is level and safe.