IN AMERICAN WATERS
On my arrival in Mobile, I went to work on a barge and received
forty-five dollars a month. We would be towed down the bay with a load
of cotton and back to the city with general freight. Ships drawing over
twelve feet of water could not go up the river, consequently they had to
receive and discharge in the lower bay, thirty-five miles from the city.
I was on the barge for two months and then shipped on the schooner
Pennsylvania, at thirty-five dollars a month. For a few weeks we brought
salt to the city from the ships in the bay. Then my wages were reduced
to eighteen dollars a month, as we were to take a cargo of pine lumber
to Havana, Cuba. The schooner was towed up the Alabama River to a new
sawmill.
During the daytime we would load timber and at night all hands would go
'possum-hunting. A few pine-knots for torches and a couple of dogs were
all that was required for the sport. As soon as a 'possum was caught he
would be as dead as a door-nail, to all appearances. They were put in a
bag as fast as captured. On returning to the schooner, we dumped them
all into an empty barrel. In the morning they would be as lively as
crickets. When the barrel was hit hard with a stick, the whole lot would
pretend to die a most tragic death.
When the schooner was loaded, we sailed for Havana. On our arrival in
that port, the lumber was discharged. The captain, as a speculation,
bought a car of oranges and bananas. The fruit was perfectly green when
brought on board. We immediately set sail for Mobile. Much to the
captain's disgust, the trip was a long one of calms and head winds and
great trouble. The weather was intensely warm. The oranges ripened very
quickly and then rapidly decayed. The fruit venture proved very
unprofitable. On our arrival in Mobile, only the bananas were fit for
sale. We had a nice job to clean the rotten oranges from the hold. I
never see a mouldy orange but that my memory goes back to that
remarkable trip.
We were towed up to the sawmill for another load of lumber.
'Possum-hunting occurred at nights as before. One of the sailors and
myself wanted a pet to take to sea with us. So we went on shore on an
expedition by ourselves. We at last found a big "razor-back" sow with a
litter of pigs. Each of us decided that two little pigs were just the
thing needed on the schooner. Then the fun commenced. "Scotty" and
myself learned the fact that the pigs could do some good sprinting when
there was occasion for it, and just then was one of the occasions. For a
half hour we tried all sorts of tactics. It was of no use. What the
little pigs didn't know the old sow did. At last we came to a big
saw-log close to a fence. I was to stand at the end of the log while
"Scotty" was to drive the pig family between. Everything worked nicely.
I did not interfere with the sow. Making a grab, I got one pig and was
laying for another. Just then there was a sudden change in the program.
The old sow was doing the chasing act. "Scotty" and I did not want any
more pigs! One was enough. It was "nip and tuck" as to who would win.
Scotty got a stick and was pounding the sow as a diversion. I made
tracks for the schooner. When I got on board I was nearly played out.
The captain took a look at the pig and myself. Then he wanted to know
why I didn't get a larger one while I was about it. When loaded, we
sailed again for Havana. We had a pleasant trip. The schooner was small
and very easy to handle. Captain Turner was a stout and short
middle-aged man, very good-natured, and inclined to be tricky in regard
to making money. We could draw our wages at any time we wished to do so.
We arrived in Havana in the month of June. The weather was very hot.
Every day at two o'clock we stopped discharging lumber, as the
custom-house officers would then go home. Every board and stick of
timber had to be measured on the dock. The crew would go ashore and
visit the different places in the city. We all invested money in the
Royal Lottery, but drew no prizes. The tickets were sold on the streets
by venders, who received a commission on their sales. A person who could
not understand Spanish would suppose that they were selling newspapers.
The tickets were in large sheets, sixteen dollars for a whole and
proportionately, down to a sixteenth.
A large American ship arrived in harbour from China with a load of
coolies for the Cuban plantations. The captain was sick, so he made
arrangements with Captain Turner to take his vessel, the Messenger, to
New York. Our mate was to take the schooner to Boston, with a cargo of
sugar and molasses. We took our cargo on board, boxes of sugar in the
hold and hogsheads of molasses for a deck load. I was now going home in
earnest. I purchased a lot of guava jelly and tropical preserves,
besides a number of presents for my relatives. I wrote to my mother, in
New York, telling her of my intentions, giving her the name of the
schooner and its port of destination. The fourth day of July, 1860,
early in the morning, we sailed out past Morro Castle. Our voyage to
Boston had begun. I felt happy with the prospect of soon being back
home. We had a very easy time on the schooner, there being nothing to do
except to take our turns at steering. On a full-rigged ship it would
have been different, as it is invariably the practice to keep the crew
continually at work most of the time, most usually aloft, repairing the
rigging. We had passed the most dangerous part of our trip, through the
Florida Keys; the wind was "wing and wing"--that is, the foresail was
out on one side and the main-sail on the other. A good strong breeze was
driving us north at a rapid rate. That night it was my turn at the wheel
from ten to twelve o'clock. It being cloudy, no stars were visible. For
that reason it was more difficult to steer straight. By selecting a
bright star ahead when the vessel is on the right course, it is easier
to see which way the wheel is to be turned. Steering by compass alone,
the vessel either "goes off" or "comes up" considerably before the
compass shows it. The main boom was out to starboard the full length of
the sheet. A pennant--heavy rope--from the end of the boom was hooked to
a tackle and fastened forward in order to prevent the boom from swinging
back. I had been at the wheel about an hour, and was watching the
compass carefully. Suddenly the light in the binnacle went out. Then I
had neither stars nor compass to steer by. As we were going dead before
the wind, I tried to keep the old schooner straight, but it was useless.
In a few minutes she yawed to starboard, and the main-sail was taken
aback. All the strain of that big sail was then on the boom pennant and
tackle leading forward. Before anything could be done to relieve us from
our dilemma there was a sharp snap forward. The belaying-pin which held
the tackle had broken, the boom flew over to the other side, and the
sheet tautened out like a bow-string. It took hardly a second for the
sail to jibe over.
I was lying on deck badly stunned, the wheel-post broken short off, and
the wheel broken into small pieces. The old Pennsylvania was sailing in
all directions. The "sheet" may be better understood by calling it a
large double tackle. As the boom swung in, the sheet, of course,
slackened up, and the bights, going over the quarter-deck, had caught
everything in the way. If I had been caught under the arm or chin I
should have been hurled quite a distance from the schooner without any
possible chance of being rescued. Small tackles were fastened to the
tiller, and the schooner brought head to wind. The main-sail was then
lowered and furled. With only the forward sails set and all hands at the
tiller tackles, we managed to run before the wind on our right course
until daylight. The fragments of the wheel were picked up and, by using
a stout barrel-head as a foundation, it was reconstructed. While not
being a first-class affair, it answered all purposes. On the right side
of my body, from ankle to top of my head, I was sore for several days.
That was my second accident with main-booms, and both were narrow
escapes.
Within a short distance of Boston, our stock of provisions ran short, so
we had to kill our pet pig. He had grown to quite a respectable size.
It was much to our regret to slaughter our companion, but it had to be
done. As it was, we had nothing left to eat on our arrival in Boston.
The first thing after the anchor dropped was to row the cook ashore and
get some grub for supper. Captain Turner was on hand to meet us, having
arrived several days previously. His first inquiries were about the pig.
He intended to take it to his home. His wife had made a nice place for
it in the back yard as a domicile. We went to a dock the next day for
unloading cargo. A custom-house officer came on board to see that
everything was according to the manifest. He was very sociable to all
hands. About dinner-time he called me to one side, quietly informing me
that he was going to dinner and would not return for an hour or so, and
that, if the boys had anything to take ashore, they had better do it
while he was absent. I told the crew what he had said. As we all had a
quantity of cigars, we each chipped in a handful as a present. The
balance and my supply of guava jelly was taken to a boarding-house.
When the officer returned from his dinner, I told him to look on my bed.
He took the hint--and the cigars too. I had to wait some time in Boston
before I could get my pay which was due me, and I had not written home
about my arrival, not knowing how soon I might start for New York. About
the third day, while standing on the schooner deck, I noticed a neatly
dressed lady coming down the dock. As it was an unusual place for a
woman, my curiosity was aroused. She seemed to be looking for some
vessel, so I stepped ashore and walked towards her, thinking I might be
of some service to her. She was looking for her son. I was the son. It
was a great surprise to me to see my mother so unexpectedly.
"Now, George, you won't get away this time; you are going straight home
with me!" I was greeted.
The way she knew the Pennsylvania had arrived was by reading the New
York Herald. That paper gave the daily arrival of ships in all the large
ports of the United States. I told her my reasons for not writing and
why I was detained in Boston; then she was satisfied. I inquired about
my relations at home. They were all well and very anxious to see me. I
then asked about my father in San Francisco. She at once began to cry.
Then, for the first time, I noticed that she was dressed in mourning.
Father had been dead just three months. I went to a hotel with mother
and remained with her until evening; then she returned to New York. In a
short time I received my money. The next train was taking me to New York
and back to my friends from whom I had been separated for such a long
time. How glad they were to see me, and what a happy time we all had!
They never got tired of listening to the stories of my sailor life. I
remained at home for about six weeks. As I did not wish to remain idle
any longer, I concluded to return to Mobile, where I was well
acquainted, and there work at discharging cargoes from vessels. I was
satisfied that I could easily earn from two dollars and a half to three
dollars a day at that work during the winter.