Show A A SEA STORY HOW A VESSEL WAS ABANDONED cy A frightened CREW they heard iferd strange nole nollies and ani at ladt 1 iut blittle tha their escape only to lie to 1110 picked d up again AC spirit ant and what they proved to lie ile icom copyright right by charles B lewis 1 we had hall been in cape town four days completing our loading for liverpool after having been up tip the african coast as far as zanzibar and return when an irishwoman came aboard and asked for a it passage home our craft vaa ras the english rn glish bark fanny lee carrying a crew of fourteen men and though we might hai have e tried to make A woman comfortable had we picked her off ft a wreck in mid ocean the barque bacque cai carried ed no passengers and had no accommodations for them the woman gave her name as molly mcdavis she was vv as a single w oman woman twenty four years old and had made the voyage to the cape in an emigrant ship to t 0 bin j sin and marry a lo 10 over er like many another female she was disappointed pat had bad skipped the country when she arrived arria ed she had bad been at work for several months but could not pay her way home indeed she did not propose to she was what might be called a strapping young woman being as tall as any sailor aboard and weighing about pounds she offered to go aa cook but as there was no bacan vacancy cy she asked to be taken as a common sailor and allowed to work her tier passage home bonie wo felt a bit sorry fer was miss mcdavis mcd ivis but we take her in any position she was disappointed but she site had no tears to shed on the contrary she went away with a very determined look on her tier face and an irishman among the crew offered to bet his soul against a plug of tobacco that shed see bee liverpool as soon as we did it was ten days from the time she came aboard before we w left tho the cape I 1 saw raw her abo aboard ard three or four times in the week and once or twice she had other confabs with the captain As we weighed anchor and stood out to fo our offing molly was w as the last person in cape town to be suspected of bringing ill luck to our old bark we had fine weather and favorable winds and were well up with cape frio when the men came to me in a body during the morning i atch watch to make a complaint they were headed by the carpenter himself hina bim belf self who declared that for the past two nights the watches below had been disturbed by strange noises and could not sleep the bark had bad the old fashioned to fo castle instead of the deck house and the noises had seemed to come from behind the bulkhead dividing the fo castle from the hold while any sailing miling craft carrying a miscellaneous cargo Is always abw ays full of strange queer noises caused by friction n and straining there is always at least one 0 ne man in a crew ready to shake his head a and nd make mystery over something easily explained away a ay I 1 listened to thai the complaint promised to look into it and then dropped the matter out of mind on the night of that day I 1 came on watch at midnight I 1 found my men already on deck abid the second mates watch just relieved hung bung about the scuttle instead of turning in demanding to know the leason reason of t this his singular action I 1 was told t that hilt the queer noises before referred to had bad been heard again and again and the crew were as good as upset over er them had the old man been on deck he would h have seized a belaying pin and driven the watch ave below and cracked three or four heads lie had no patience with sailors weaknesses I 1 was tempted to give elv them ethem abit a bit of my mind but all were so serious and earnest that it seemed only reasonable to investigate I 1 went into the fo castle and spent fifteen minutes listening tor for sounds the bark had all plain sail rail on her and was w as heeled to port and for the tile first ten tell minutes I 1 heard only the sounds of boxes and baks balts rubbing together then of a sudden I 1 heard a voice singing it waa was a faint far away voice and I 1 had to listen closely but it certainly was a human oice voice it was impossible poss ible to locate 1 to it it seemed to come from aboe above as al much as in any other direction and I 1 went on oil deck thinking some of the hands might bo be playing a joke it will be anything but a at joke for the man chos playing this if I 1 can catch him at idill iti I 1 said as I 1 gained the deck and found both watches grouped around the hatch batch and waiting for me air mr merwin did you hear aught down below asked the tile carpenter speaking tor for all not down there but I 1 heard someone one singing up tip here 11 no birl I 1 pledge you ray my word and that c of f every man here that not a man wan of us uttered a whisper it was singing you heard sir yes I 1 and what the men complain of sir singing binging most of the time but now an and d then something like praying and callin calling out 11 aeu well singing and praying wont hurt any of you even it its that it s in the cargo how however ever weve welve got th three ice or four old pianos aboard going to england to be ned fixed up and its the boxes rubbing together which makes the singing bound lt its tree treo music and you ought to be glad gl id of it go below the watch and lets hoir hear no more of th Is the nun men hung back for a moment and then followed one another down into their sleeping quarters I 1 was honest in what I 1 had said As an soon as its I 1 remembered the planos I 1 was sure that the fi hinging nging noise came from front them it no doubt looked reasonable to the sailors aa as nothing more waa was heard from them that night I 1 was w us off at 4 and on again at 8 next morning the breeze had bad died out and we were on an even keel nud and not making over two miles mile an hour it had come 0 9 the captain was overhauling some papera papers in the cabin the men were all at work on jobs and I 1 was pacing the quarter and keeping an eyo eye on a bit of sail just showing to windward of us its when a it shout of tenor terror rang through the tile ship A hand named thomas burns had bee been into the after something bonu thing wanted on deck and it was ho lie who called out aa as he tumbled up and for a monte moment n t to contemplate going overboard the yell il brought the captain on deck and then tile n 0 the 1 i e etory story of the barange noise came out I 1 ho 0 was furious burns decia A al thata human voice had called to him while he was below and the rest of the tile crew stood by hinr regard to tho the pinging singing and prating praying but the old man was mud mad enough to kill bome u one ho ile drove them forward and then followed follow ed them up and cursed and berated them tin in in ili bristol fab faublon blon and aud ended up by threatening to put any man mail in irons for the rest of tho the voyage who w ho let it be known that he lie heard the ringing singing again the apt aln of n ship knows very little of his men as he lie never coules in fit contact with them thein As the day and nights passed pasa ed and our captain heard beard nothing further from the men he be began vo boast of hew he be bad dissolved the mystery and put jacke jacks superstitions to 11 flight ig b L the second mate and d I 1 knew altogether better however the noises still continued and the men ladelma hotd dmn rattier all t ant I 1 I 1 their pipes aal kept very wid awoke awake tto the discipline of tin the ship up was being apet iv by a mystery iny tery and I 1 it am m trie free to confess confes 9 that til 1 l etwas a i mystery niR try which cli also bothered mon moil t two to o other occasions is I 1 bad entered the IL binl Plu pi tilly beard heard the uncanny bounds sounds but wits not able stile to locate them to my satisfaction I 1 was pretty sure however abat t they came from the tore hold and one afternoon I 1 told the whole story to the captain and sugg suggested eted abat the forward foiw ml hatch be removed and an investigation avei made he lew flew mid load at once and bewail began berating me for an old woman vroman and a graveyard sailor and then ha lie w went eufa forward among the men and told them hed he d run the bark acho ashore re and be landed hanged to her wore before b hed eld pull off a hatch cover he ile thought though t that settled it but he w was a 8 in mistaken t e n etwas it was the captains witch watch always held by the second mate from midnight to 4 next morning it had become almost a dead calm calin when I 1 left the deck every man of the second mates watch was up before him and I 1 noticed that none of mine went below what happened halt half an hour after I 1 had bad turned in gave the captain the greatest surprise of bla his life mr groat the second mate was pacing the quarter when he was suddenly seized gagged and bound and a voice which he recognized as the carpenters cautioned him to be quiet or hed go a overboard all sailors are light sleepers but officers especially ally eo so and why it was that neither the captain nor I 1 woke up during the events occurring on deck has always been a matter of surprise the men brought the bark to the wind got tackles aloft and hove hore out the longboat and wo we slept right along without hearing bearing a sound they filled two breakers of water took such provisions as 09 the cook who was in with them could lay hands on and by I 1 they were away the steward wa was s the only one left behind with the officers after the men left mr groat made efforts to free himself but without avail ho could id not even roll along the deck as ho be cou had been lashed to a ring bolt at half past 3 the captain awoke and went on deck and when the whole affair became P plain lain to him he nearly fell down in it 11 fit our position was off st paul de loando fairly in the path pathway way of traffic but yet we r a lazed zed that we might knock about for a month without sighting a ail sail nothing con could id bo be seen of the longboat lon boit from aloft when day daylight I 1 ight came and the first thing we gilld id was wits to reduce sill sail so that we might possibly manage the bark an n case ct of heavy w eather weather the breeze freshened with the sun and as it was fair for the coast which was about OW miles awaya aw ay r G root and I 1 supposed of course the canta n wo would id attempt to work her in he had different ideas ide ts however he ile was very quiet and humble over the first shock ihen then he lie let loose and did swearing enough to last ten on ten longroy long ages he ile declared hed held navigate the bark to liverpool it if it ook five years to make the voyage and if he never got an hours sleep we had just got her tier off on her course and the old man himself was at the tile wheel and still swearing when ft a strange figure emerged from the fo castlo and came aft as far as the tile mainmast it was w as the figure of a woman but her face was so white and pinched her tier eyes so large and glassy and she reeled about in euch such a manner that 1 I who was nearest her tier was ten seconds in in making aking sure he was even a human hum in being the minute I 1 caught sight of her parched lips I 1 ran to the scuttle butt and got her a manakin of water it was only a drop to her and she had swallow swallowed ed fully two quarts before I 1 choked tier au off iben then I 1 signaled th steward who was now acting as cook an and d he be brought her a big hunk of meat and a couple of biscuit she ate like a w wolf olf and it was a goodhall good half hour before s she spoke n word then it was to say ahl ali me bye but molly mcdavis McD ayls begins to feel liko like her old self once morel it was the irishwoman we had refused to take aboard at cape town and after thirst and hunger had been satisfied she told us her story the last time she came aboard the men were at supper and the tile cargo nearly stowed she had tier plans all made and she slipped down dow n the without bung being seen she site made her tier wa way y over the cargo to the fo oc aitio castle bulk head and there took up quarters among the bales of dried cow skins we had bad stored there she had hail brought with her four our quarts of water and two loaves of bread intend intending ing to let her presence bo be known before she suffered from hunger and thirst she was dreadful sick when w lien w we e got to sea and her tier groans groan 4 and prayers and laments were w ere heard in the fol castle when she got better she sang to keep herself company she made the bread and water last her a wee week k then she tried to attract attention ion by rapping on the bulkhead but the frightened sailors paid no attention nt she had a pocketknife w with ith her and on the afternoon of the night they abandoned the ship she cut the bands of four bales of skins and moved them away and then attacked the bulkhead she was nil all night cutting through the tile stout planks and when she appeared on deck she had been forty hour hours without food or water avater I 1 expected the captain would give the stowaway woman a bics ble after she rhe had bad finished her tier story he did start in fit to to but she could utter five words to his one and in d she soon tired tirel him out ho ile sent her to the galley to act as cook and I 1 don defit t think he was as much put out as a ho he pre tended to be thus far as you have hav seen three v ery very curious circumstances had bad occurred the discovery of a spook spool in the fo castle tk the plight of the tile crew and the appearance of misa miss mcdavis there here was to bo u fourth curious curious circumstance on oil the beconi day of our shorthand deduces educes we w e had halt half a gale and a tumbling sea all day and far into night we were under antler very b but the bark swarmed died along a at t a good ruto rate of speed the captain meant to kep keep our course u and speak the first ball rill we w e met and ask tor for two or three meu dien and touch at sierra leone at sit sun a rise of the third day lay I 1 went aloft to sweep the bea u and the very v ery first object to catch my eye was our longboat she was to the eastward ard and windward of us and bearing down across our course she gasn wasn t over three miles away and rod with my glass 1 I could identify every man upon n porting reporting the boat to the captain he lie a swore ore by bv the tile big horn born spoon that hed not take is mail aboard but when the boat bo it had bull come coine within hail he lie changed his ills mind and her crew were seen s en tumbling oer over the rail and arid glad to get aboard thy they had acone oft 1 make the coast coat but had forgotten to take a compass aal been hailing balling almost at ran random doni the ghost fe host vi was an there to welcome them on ind and when they got her tier story and how low biotic tiC had bun been their action no nosta set of men i were ere ever more dl disgusted awed with themselves or more anious anxious to lonthue atone for their loides loiD gs molly safe ly landed in Lver liverpool pool and when we nye made tip a purse for lur tier that blie she might have timo time to turn around I 1 believe the captain put ili As enuch adall as all the rest of u though be her bhore and called after tier thiet hell have the law oil her tier if it alto howasz araut out of liverpool inside of an hour a |