Show the cabin min boy A A shipmasters Ship masters story on my ray way vay across the I 1 fell in with two od sea captains john streeter and idd asa morton with whom I 1 had some slight acquaintance capt streeter was about three score and had followed the sea during most of his life lire morton was considerably younger youn but still a seaman of much experience the subject of the abolition of flogging in in our navy came up in course of conversation and capt morton expressed himself very decidedly I 1 in favor of that time honored institution t the ike lie cat ol o nine line tails 1 I am not prepared to sa say bay 1 remarked capt streeter in reply that te the condition of our man ol o war men will be in every case benefited by the abolition of flogging though I 1 am sure that it might be so I 1 mean that the officers have it within their power to do away with all kinds of punishment I 1 mean of cour sefor such of fences as are usually punished on shipboard y for my part returned morton 1 I should not n ot care to take command of a ship it if the power of punishing refractory seamen as I 1 tholet thought proper were taken from me 12 til well weil ell eil said capt streeter 1 I used to think just so in fact there were but few masters more passionate or severe than I 1 was men bien used to run away avay from me and on more than one occasion my life has been in danger from the violence of men whom I 1 had abused I 1 used the cat and the ropes end almost as freely I 1 as I 1 used my tongue and I 1 used to wonder hy how ow it ha happened ened that i I 1 always had the luck to get pet sucK such buch bad men when I 1 was about forty years of age I 1 took command of the ship Peters petersham ham bam she was an old craft and had seen f full ull uli as much service as she was capable of see seeing irig with safety but her owners were will ng il to trust a valuable cargo in her go so I 1 woul ant refuse to trust m myself we were bound to liverpool and nothing unusual happened until about the eighth day out when we ran foul of a small iceberg it was early in the morning before sunrise and not above six or eight feet of ice was above water it having nearly all been leen melted in the tho warm waters of the gulf stream I 1 did not think we had sustained much injury for the shock was slight but I 1 was very angry adry 0 and gave the lookout look out a severe punishment without stopping to inquire whether he could have seen the berg in time to escape it my cabin boy was named jack withers lie he was fourteen years of age and this was his first voyage I 1 had taken him from a widowed mother and had promised her that I 1 would see him well treated that was if he behaved himself ile he was a bright quick intelligent tell igent lad I 1 soon made myself believe that he had bad an awful disposition I 1 fancied that he was the most stubborn piece of humanity I 1 had ever come gome across I 1 made up my mind he hannever had never been properly governed over ned and resolved to break him in I 1 toad told him id lyd curb his temper before I 1 had done with him biro inre in reply ply he told me that I 1 might kill him if I 1 liked and I 1 flogged him with the end of the mizzen top gallant ballards hal lards till he could hardly stand I 1 asked him if he had got enough and he told me I 1 might flog him more if I 1 wished it I 1 felt a strong inclination to throw the boy overboard but at that moment he staggered back against the mizzenmast mizzen mast from absolute weakness and I 1 left him to himself when I 1 reasoned calmly about the boys disposition I 1 was forced to acknowledge e that he was one of the smartest and most faithful faithful lads I 1 had ever seen when I 1 asked him t tedo do anything he would be orf off like ilke a rocket but when I 1 roughly h ordered him to do it then came the dis disposition with which I 1 found fault one day when it was very near dooni noon spoke to him and told him to go below and bring up my quadrant he was looking over the quarter rail and I 1 knew he did not hear me and the next time I 1 spoke I 1 ripped out an oath and intimated if he move id help him 1 I hear ye ay he said with an independent tone no words 12 said L I 1 1 I spose I 1 can speak he retorted moving slowly towards the companion way ills his looks words and the slow careless manner in which he moved fired me in a ment and I 1 grasped him by the collar speak to me again like that and ill pil flog 0 you within an inch of your life said I 1 you can flog away he replied firm and undaunted as a rock and I 1 did flog him I 1 cau eau caught up the end of a rop rope egand L and beat him until my arm fairly ached but he never even winced hows that said 1 I theres a little more life in me youa better dlo flo flog out was the reply antl anti and I 1 be beat at him again I 1 beat him till he I 1 sank from my hand against the rail and then I 1 sent one of the men for my quadrant when it came and I 1 had adjusted it for my ray observation I 1 found that the sun was already past the meridian and that I 1 was too late this added fuel to the fire of my madness and quickly seizing the lad by the collar I 1 led him to the main hatchway latch hatchway way and had the hatch batch taken off I 1 then thrust him down and swore I 1 would keep him there till his stubbornness was broken the hatch was th then e n p put ut onland on and I 1 went into the cabin I 1 suffered d a good g deal that afternoon not with any compunctions for what I 1 r had done but with my own temper and bitterness it made me mad to think that I 1 could not conquer that boy that I 1 could not break down his cool stern opposition but I 1 will do it I 1 said to myself by the heavens above me ill pil starve him into it or he shall die under the operation 21 after supper I 1 went to the hatchway and c called ailed 0 out ut to him but he returned me no answer so I 1 closed the hatch and went 1 t 1 a away w ay at ten n 41 1 I called a again ain aln and a again alain g a I 1 I 1 got no answer I 1 might t that ha t the flogging had taken away hla his senses had haa not some of the men edeh assured me liht that they had heard him not an hour before talking to himself I 1 did did not trouble him again till morning after breakfast I 1 went to the hatchway and called out to him once more I 1 heard nothing from him nor could I 1 see him I 1 had not been seen mm since I 1 put him down there I 1 called out several times but he would make no reply and yet the same men told me they the iad had heard him talking that very morning lie lle seemed to be calling on them for help but he would not ask for me I 1 meant to break him into it heli hell chell beg before hell starve 21 1 I thought and BO so determined to let him stay there I 1 supposed that he had crawled forward to the forecastle bulkhead in order to make the sailors hear him some of the men asked leave to go 1 down d 0 wn and look for him but I 1 refused I 1 afre threatened a bened to punish the first man that dared to go down at noon I 1 went again and as he did not answer me this time I 1 resolved that lie he should come to the hatchway and ask for me ere I 1 went any more nore the day passed away and when evening evening came again I 1 began to be startled I 1 thought of the many good qualities the boy had and of his widowed mother he had been in the hold thirty six hours and all of forty without food or drink lie he must bo be too weak to cry out now it was hard for me to give up but if he died there therb from absolute starvation it might go harder with me still so at length I 1 made up my mind to go and see seo him it was not quite sundown when I 1 had the hatch taken off and I 1 jumped down upon the boxes alone A little way forward I 1 saw a apace space where jack might easily have gone down and to that point I 1 crawled on my hands and knees I 1 called out there but could retno answer A short distance farther was a wide space which I 1 had entirely forgotten but w which aich I 1 now remembered had bad been left open on account I 1 of a break in the flooring of the hold bold which would have let everything g that might have been stowed there rest directly upon the thin planking in of 01 the ie hip ship s to 0 th this place J ae I 1 made my way and looked down I 1 heard ea rd the sp splashing MK id of water and thought I 1 could detect a soung sound bound like the incoming of a tiny jet or stream at first I 1 could see lothing but as soon as I 1 became used to tol the dim light I 1 could distin pis mis the faint out j lines of the boy at some distance below me ile he seemed to be sitting on the them broken floor with his feet stretched out against the cask I 1 called out to him and thought he looked up jack are you there I 1 and he answered me in a faint weary tone yes help mel me for heavens sake help me bring men and bring a lantern the ship has hag sprung a leak I 1 hesitated and he added in a i more eager eager tone i make haste I 1 will wiil try and hold it till you come back 21 I 1 waited to hear no more but hurried on deck as soon as possible and returned with a lantern and three men I 1 leaped down beside j the boy and could scarcely believe the evidence of my own senses three of 0 the timbers were completely worm eaten to the very heart and one of the outer planks had been broken and would burst in any moment the boknight boy might night leave it whose feet were braced against the cask before him half at a dozen little jets of water were streaming in about him and be he was wet to the skin 1 saw that the plank must burst the moment the strain was rem removed oved from it ia s p I 1 made my inen men brace themselves against it before I 1 lifted him up other men were called down with plan pian s i and spikes and adzes addes and with much care and trouble we finally succeeded in stopping stop i the leak and averting danger the plank which had been stove in was six feet ion lon long iong by eight inches wide and would have let in 9 a stream of water of that capacity it I 1 would rould have been beyond our reach long lone ere we could have discovered it and would have h ave in a very short time I 1 knew know it must bechere be where the iceberg struck us 4 jack withers wa was taken staken to the calin cabin and there he managed to tell his story stort Shortly 0 r tl after I 1 put him in the hold hoid he a rz and when he became used to the durf glimmer limmer that came through the dead ligh 0 ang looked about for a snug snug a place in which tobie tov e for his limbs were sore ht attl he went to sleep and when hi eard a fa sound like water astrea streaming ming t through agh a smal small hole he went to the open pla pia the cargo and looked down and he w vay way sure that he saw a small jet of water springing ging ing up from I 1 spry the ships bottom ile he ae leaped own aown and in a few minutes found that thet them the timbers villiers Vi aliers had given wholly away and that the stream was increase i ing in size he placed hb hand upon the j plank lank and found it broken and discovered discover eit edi that ia the he pressure of the rater irater cater without was waa pressing it inward halad sense enough to see that if it gained gamed an inch more it must all go and the ship be lost and perhaps all hands perish and be he saw too that if he e could keep the broken plank in its place he might stop the income flood so he sat i himself upon it and braced his feet against the cask and then callad for help but he was so far away so low loir down with such a dense mass of the cargo about labout him that his bis voice scarcely reached other ears than his own some of the men heard him but bit thought ht he was talking to himself A and there he sat with his feet braced fot for four and twenty dreary houa houd hourwich hour with the water gatei spurting in tiny streams air alf over him drenching him hin to the skin ile he had iad thought severd several times of going goin I 1 g to cheh hatchway and nd calling c all ali for help but he knew kneve that thear the broken pla pia pian plan ul would be forced in if he left it for he could feel it heave beneath him his rena reng strength th vis vda was via failing him his limbs were racked with pain but he would not give up I 1 asked him if he should not have given up if I 1 had not come as I 1 did ile he answered that he could not have done it while he had life in him he said he thought not of himself he was ready to die but he would save the rest if he could and he had saved us surely saved us all from a watery va tery grave av that tr boy oy 1 lay eit evy sick almost unto death but I 1 nursed him with my own hands nursed him all through his delirium and when his reason returned and he could sit up and talk I 1 bowed myself before him and humbly numbly asked his pardon for all the wrong I 1 had done him ile he threw his bis arms about my neck and told me if I 1 would be good to him he would never give me cause for of fence and added as he sat up again 1 I am not a coward I 1 be a dog efrom from 2 that hour I 1 never forgot those words and from that hour I 1 have never struck a blow en on board hoard my ship I 1 make men feel that they are men that I 1 so regard them and that I 1 wish to make them as comfortable and happy as possible and I 1 have not failed to gain t their air respect ani and confidence I 1 give no undue license but make my crew feel that they have a friend and a superior in the same person for nine years I 1 sailed in three different ships with the same crew A man be hired to leave me save for an officers berth and jack withers remained with me thirteen years he was my cabin boy one of the foremost hands my second mate and the last time he sailed with me he refused the command of a new barque bacque because he would not be separated from me buchels but he is a captain now and one of the best this country ever afforded such gentlemen is my experience in government and discipline on 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