Show ken ram we were homeward bound after having finished a three years cruise in asiatic waters to york via cape horn had been our last art stopping in there for provisions spare spars new fails and the other numerous necessities that go toward making a success of a long voyage we were now in the pacific and the lobely S E tracks were hum jiing and whittling in the arching cavities of the white sales and urging the staunch old veteran ship on her trackless course over that vast expanse the port watch bad gone below the starboard a few having contrived to light their pipes for smoking in the is an infraction of the rules of a man of war shambled drow isly on to the forecastle to gaze at the aabert of the weather as do all seamen the moment they appear on deck there was no need for a night more fair never canopied cano pied the ocean mid way between the zenith and the horizon and a thousand sparkling stars was suspended the most beautiful constellation of the southern skies the southern cross while close beside as if standing guard over that celestial symbol was the sentinel in all his nightly radience and floating low on the eastern horizon like banks of starry fire could be seen the magellan clouds while over head rode a full fair moon flooding the sea with her mellow light and turning the sails that seemed to melt away into the glowing vault above into pulsating sheets of silver ere the weather rail had been deserted the ship bad settled down into her usual night watch silence and now only the choking and sobbing of the waters in the scup pers as she careened gently to the trade winds the soft swashing sound coming from the bows as her sharp cut water ing high the spray that was turned into drops of silver and blobs globs of pearl by the moons light ere they fell again into the sea the creaking and straining of the ropes as they were pulled through the blocks by the breathing of the sails alone marred the ocean silence the greater part of the watch had stretched themselves in the gangways heads to windard and now had forgotten the sea and its attending dangers in the pleasant dreams of home and its joys while a few with lighted pipes by brawny hands that sought the lee side of the sixty that stood fore and aft on the forecastle deck and in whispers spun their yarns the sailors proverbial pastime suddenly the watch sprung to their feet awakened by hail from the lookout of light a ho h o y where away came from the quarter deck the hoarse voice of the officer of the watch tavo points on the weather bow six answered the lookout 1 I tell you boys it made my heart beat so hard against my breast that I 1 thought the running gear inside had become the last time I 1 had cause to make the bail of light 0 said one of the little group of seamen that were leaning against the carr aiges on the sixty 1 I say acu said one lets hear that yarn its only four bells 2 p m and it will help kill the watch we had shipped ben in hono lulu where he had been left in care of consul by the british ship Clen shire whose crew had picked him up in the south pacific while adrift ia an open boat bens education lifted him above the ordinary rank of seamen and more than once had he commanded a ship hut his love for grog had reduced him to the forecastle sphere from which his aversion for the same evil in younger days had raised him mates began ben do you believe in spirits do you believe the dead can walk and inhabit the fossle foks le and do you believe that woo shall follow the ship that leaves port on friday matea 1 do for I 1 that on that day is the communion feasting of disembodied bailers bailors in the tabernacle of neptune the moon hid her face behind a mammoth cloud as though loath to shine where such fancies dwelt the stars refused to glow and seemed to fade into semi ob as though ashamed to shed their rays upon the decks of a vessel in whose crew was numbered one that violated the sailors grave the soft audible whispering sways of the sails was like unto the mournful whispers of a dying shipmate as the abrupt quiet is followed by a still more abrupt deci la ration ceased while a strange light of supernatural awe height ened the features of his listeners 1 I left philadelphia about the first of may in the full rigged ship crescent Ore scent bound for nag asaki japan with a cargo of oil as an able bodied seamen we passed under blun and in fact we had nothing stronger than a breeze down to the line where we lost the N E trades and for fully three weeks did we knock around in the drol Jums it was at this point that yarns commenced to be spun around the foks le about the ship and strange ones they were mates one of which I 1 will relate and which I 1 afterward found to be true the full rigged ship E was built in the yards of baldwin maine in the first part of the eighties and for some reason her keel was laid on a friday c she was launched on a friday she left port on a friday and it was on friday july and 2nd that she went down on the dago Rai in eight fathoms of water with all bands save one lie was picked up by a ship bound home from china in the southern pacific several days after that ship was raised again and brought home by a picked crew and remained but the story was kept quiet owing to the difficulty they would have in her atit was known bythe bailers bailors Bai lors ahat ship was now callad the crescent and the way it leaked out one of the picked crew was making the with us well time hang very heavy on our hands in the doldrums fur the watch on deck was kept busy re paring old sails rigging overhauling blocks and numerous other day weather jobi well a favorable equal soon wafred wafted us into the 8 V tracks and a short time afterwards we had dropped them and caught the latitus winds from a fair point far the passage bad been an extraordinary fair one and though the weather was very severe as regards the cold we thought one and all we would round the horn without experiencing any of its terrors nevertheless the fodale fo kale yarn was working on the minds of the crew as we neared the Ram eraa the place where she had once met a hard fate not long before and the fact that to morrow would be the and 2nd of july on the second ani of the fated day caused all the more agitation the next morning at eight bells 8 a m though still pitch dark one could feel a dismal change in the weather but long toward four bells 10 a m the sun came peeping oyer the seemingly frost rimmed horizon of the icy south like a large disk of molten metal the ship was on a bowline but running at a good seven knots and taking in some water on the fossle foks le that almost immediately was turned into ice I 1 always carry a sextant in my sea chest and I 1 always take the ship position at noon for my own beni fit and that day at noon I 1 found the ship would be off the f aheras if she kept up her seven knots an hour about the end of the first dogs watch G p m it come my trick at the wheel in the dogwatch and about two bells 5 p m and with out any indication of a storm by barometer there came a tremendous roar of wind from dead ahead taking every stitch of canvas as clean from the bol tropes as though the work had been done with a sheath knife in the hands afan A B able bodied seaman and whipping the fore top mate main and mizzen gallant mas down from aloft as though done with a manstrope ma in the hands ofa yankee man of wars crew and followed by an awful sea that swept the ship fore and aft earring with it three seamen and the captains boy and every loose and poorly secured object on the decks A frightful uproar now ensued the yelling of our panic stricken crew the loud wild tones of command coming from the quarterdeck quart erdeck the slapping and banging of the loose sales against the spars the crashing of the top hamper hanging to leeward against the vessels side was heightened by the wild roaring of the wind and continued sweeping off the deck by monstrous seas the captain at the time she struck us was standing on the weather side of the poop talking to the mate who sprang foard to clear away the wreck as it came aloft while the captain turned to me and said or rather yelled put your helm hard down and lash the wheel if you cant hold it the wind when she first struck bad come down from ahead but shortly after veered round to the south therefore keeping the ship bows on to the beas and enabling me to detill control the wheel it was with the greatest difficulty that the male persuaded the men to exert themselves to save the ship for the seemingly incredulous fogele fo kele yarns seemed about to be rehearsed with natural scenery and its awful effects mr kleinknecht yelled the captain who was still on the poop aya aye sir answered the mate making bis way aft there seems to be a strange fatality connected with the passages that this vessel makes you are aware that this is only her second and here was where she ended first from our position at noon the dago cameras was on her bow distance thirty seven miles BO that now they must bear on the lee bam 1 I should think so sir remarked the male on friday july 2188 resumed the captain and according to her old logbook she occupied about the same position however it in all may be but a remarkable coincidence and we must get some sail on the ship and run her from this cursed spot aye aye sir answered the mate going foard the sea had now veered round to the run of the wind making it impossible for one man to hold owing of course to the heavy rushing of the seas against the rudder so I 1 sung out to the captain to send a man aft put the wheel lashings on he sung back po jamming the helm hard a atai board I 1 stooped down to reach the lashings as I 1 did I 1 received a shuning blow on the right side of the head that caused me to spring to my upright position again and look around but seeing no one but the captain who had his back turned to me at the time so thinking it was a piece of loose top hamper from the mizzen I 1 stooped again and again I 1 felt the blow but I 1 succeeded in getting the wheel lashings in place this time I 1 was mad and I 1 made a dive down the lee side of the poop at some imaginary figure that I 1 thought was a man only to go sprawling over the wreck of the spanker boom that was there I 1 turned to the captain who bad heard the fall and was making in my direction and cried captain did you strike me are you drunk be yelled back taking a step nearer suddenly I 1 see him stagger and would have fallen had he not grasped the wheel he had felt the blow as well as I 1 I 1 now sprung foard with a yell and closely followed by the captain for I 1 now firmly believed the chip to lie in the possession sion of thosa who had gone down n her not long before As we reached alie main hatch we were met by the crew who came tumbling op with chiei of the ship being haunted it seemed as though they could not break oat the sails from the dockers owing to borne thing that seemed to pull back or hold them fast the captain bad now u recovered his presence of mind and turning to the m n said men there are things about this ship that I 1 cannot understand but if we are going to die let us meet death as it becomes a seaman finding such in his efforts to save hia ship this seemed to rally the boys for we nil made our way down to the gail locker I 1 made my way in through the hatch door followed by the mate and soon succeeded in laying my hands on the cle wiron of a top sail which I 1 was passing out to the boya for a haul suddenly I 1 felt grasp my throat I 1 tried to fight it off to grasp it but my hand en countered naught but air my head to swim my brain grew thick a film grew over my eyes I 1 was lifted and thrown heavily through the hatch and I 1 remember no more till I 1 opened my eyes on deck where the crew had carried me half an hour before the crew were huddled together under the weather bulwarks bulwa or at least that part of it that had not been s ept away by the heavy swashing of the seas the captain in their speaking to them what he said I 1 could not understand as my bead had not fully recovered from the effects of the bad fright I 1 had endured but one thing I 1 did not fail to notice and that was the mate missing whether he left the sail locker or not I 1 dont know nor did I 1 ever find out suddenly my mind recovered itself at a loud cry from the second mate who had gone foard of land 0 land on the leo beam and breaker sir man the boats boys cried the captain and we all run aft to the only boat that was left by the ravishing sea but drew back with cries of dismay as we stood face to face with the fierce sea that was running not but one chance in a thousand of a boat living in that sea said the captain I 1 resolved to take that chance aa I 1 jumped in asking two of the crew to lower at a favorable roll I 1 was startled by a loud cry from the captain to hold on men hold on for your lives to windard a reaching high abaye the broken stumps of the main was a monstrous wave rushing down upon the unfortunate ship a crash ing sound as she struck a smothering sensation and I 1 felt myself borne away in some mighty em brace minutes that ripened into hours and hours into days seemed to elapse ere I 1 felt the weight recede and when I 1 had rubbed the salt water clear from my eyes I 1 looked around for the ship but mates she had gone where she went on that same day at that same time not many years before I 1 was still in the boat that was now full of water which I 1 succeeded in bailing out the little mast a sail was there as well as a breaker of water 1 close beefed reefed the sail and stood away from the shore as well as I 1 could and trusting to look for the safety of the boat the storm went down as rapidly as it came up for its mission had been accomplished and seven days after I 1 was picked up by the Clen shire in the pacific and left in honolulu strike eight bells 8 a m call the watch relieve the wheel and look out it was the voice of the officer of the watch telling the boatswains mate to call the watch below and thus ended old bens yarn had ou stepped aboard any night one week later as the shrill piping of the josuns mate came ringing through gangway of watch to muster you would have noticed that ben tons name was missing and bad you asked some old shellback shell back the reason why he would haye told you ben had slip ped his cable yea ben had slipped his cable and gone as a foremost hand in the great captain s ship eternity and there among his shipmates ship mates ot that nether spere he will probably solve the mystery of that cold hand that fought him in the sail locker the night on which occurred the wreck of the twice fated ship R S HARVEY |