Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors: Tales of 1812 Page 6

  THE MEN BEHIND THE TIMES

  Out of the north they came in their grimy, bluff-bowed ships--the menbehind the times! Three years away from home; three years outside themovement of human government, of family life, ignorant of the news ofthe world.

  The years 1811 and 1812 were remarkable ones in the annals of thewhaling industry; vessels that had been cruising for months unrewardedmanaged to fill their holds, and now, deep laden, they were returningfrom the whaling grounds, singly or often in companies of a half-scoreor more. They were ugly vessels, broad and clumsy, with heavy spars andgreat wooden davits. They stenched of blubber and whale oil, and theyoozed in the warm sun as they labored southward, out of the realms ofice and night into the rolling waters of the Pacific. They buffeted thetempestuous weather of the Horn and climbed slowly northward along thecoasts of the Western hemisphere.

  Sailing together homeward bound for New England in the fall of the yearwas a fleet of these Arctic whalers--no matter their exact number ortheir destinations. For the beginning, let it suffice that the vesselfarthest to the west was the good ship _Blazing Star_ of New Bedford.

  Captain Ezra Steele, her skipper, had made a mental calculation, and heknew exactly the profits that would accrue to him from the sale of thebarrels of sperm oil that now filled the deep hold of his ship. It washis custom in fine weather to count these barrels and to go over allthese calculations again and again. He was a part owner of the _BlazingStar_, and he had made up his mind exactly what he was going to do withthe proceeds of this cruise. He knew that just about this time of theyear, his wife and many other wives, and some who hoped to be, would bewatching for the sight of welcome sails. The Captain wondered if hisdaughter Jennie would accept young Amos Jordan's offer of marriage. Heand Amos had talked it over. Amos was his first mate now, and theCaptain had been thinking of staying at home and sending the young manout in command of the _Blazing Star's_ next cruise; but perhaps Jennie,who had a will of her own, had married; or who knows what might haveoccurred? It is now late October of the year 1812, and a great deal canhappen in three years, be it recorded.

  Captain Ezra had all the sail that she could carry crowded on thestiff, stubby yards of his vessel. He was anxious to get home again,but the wind had been baffling for some days, hauling about first oneway, then another. Now, however, they were getting well to the north,and the continued mildness of the air showed that probably they hadentered the waters of the Gulf Stream. The Captain was dressed in along-tailed coat and yellow cloth breeches thrust into heavy cowhideboots that had become almost pulpy from constant soaking in the spermoil. He noiselessly paced the deck, now and then looking over the sideto see how she was going.

  The old _Blazing Star_ creaked ahead with about the same motion andgeneral noise of it that an oxcart makes when swaying down a hill. Fromthe quarter-deck eight or ten other vessels, every one lumbering alongunder a press of stained and much-patched canvas, could be seen, and afew were almost within hailing distance. All were deep laden; every onehad been successful.

  "Waal," said the Captain to himself, "if this wind holds as 'tis, we'llmake Bedford light together in about three weeks."

  The nearest vessel to the _Blazing Star_ was the old _Elijah Mason_.She had made so many last voyages, and had been condemned so manytimes, and then tinkered up and sent out again, that it always was amatter of surprise to the worthy gentlemen who owned her when she camehalting along with her younger sisters at the end of a successfulcruise. Her present captain, Samuel Tobin Dewey, who had sailed aletter of marque during the Revolution, was a bosom friend of CaptainSteele. Many visits had they exchanged, and many a bottle of rare oldMedford rum had they broached together. As Captain Ezra turned theside, he saw that they were lowering a boat from the _Elijah Mason_,and that a thick, short figure was clambering down to it. So he steppedto the skylight, and leaning over, shouted into the cabin.

  "Hey, Amos!" he called, "Captain Dewey's comin' over to take dinnerwith us. Tell that lazy Portugee to make some puddin' and tell him toget some bread scouse ready for the crew. We'll keep 'em here forcomp'ny for our lads."

  In a few minutes he had welcomed Captain Dewey, who, although almostold enough to remember when his ship had made her maiden voyage, wasruddy and stout in his timbers and keen of voice and eye. But by thetime that a man has been three years cooped up in one vessel, hisconversational powers are about at their lowest ebb; every one knowsall of the other's favorite yarns by heart, and so the greeting wasshort and the conversation in the cabin of the _Blazing Star_ waslimited. It was with a feeling of relief that the captains heard thenews brought to them by a red-headed, unshaven boy of seventeen, thatthere was a strange sail in sight to the northwest. The two skipperscame on deck at once. About four miles away they could make out avessel heaving up and down, her sails flapping and idle. For, a commonoccurrence at sea, she lay within a streak of calm. Her presence hadprobably been kept from being known before by the slight mist that hungover the sea to the west and north. The long, easy swells were ruffledby the slight wind that filled the sails of the whaling fleet, and weredimpled to a darker color. But where the stranger lay there was asmooth even path of oily calm. Beyond her some miles the wind wasblowing in an opposite direction. She lay between the breezes, not abreath touching her.

  "What d'ye make her out to be, Ezra?" asked Captain Dewey, his fingerstwitching anxiously in his eagerness to take hold of the glass throughwhich Captain Steele was squinting.

  "Man-o'-war, brig," responded the taller man. "Sure's you're born,sir."

  "You're jest right," responded Dewey, after he had taken aim with thetelescope. "I'll bet her captain's mad, seein' us carryin' this breeze,an' she in the doldrums. We'll pass by her within three mile, I reckon.She may hang on thar all day long an' never git this slant of wind atall. Wonder what she's doin aout here, anyhow?"

  In about ten minutes Captain Ezra picked up the glass again. "Hello!"he said. "By Dondy! they've lowered away a boat, an' they are rowin'off as if to meet us. Wonder what's the row?" A tiny speck could beseen with the naked eye, making out from the stretch of quiet water.The crew of the _Blazing Star_ had sighted her also, and at theprospect of something unusual to break the monotony, had lined thebulwarks. Suddenly as the boat lifted into the sunlight on the top of awave, there came a flash and a glint of some bright metal. In a fewminutes it showed again. Captain Ezra picked up the glass.

  "By gum!" he exclaimed; "that boat's chuck full of men all armed. Whatin the name of Tophet can it mean?"

  "Dunno--I'd keep off a little," suggested Captain Dewey.

  The helmsman gave the old creaking wheel a spoke or two in response tothe Captain's order.

  "She's baound to meet us anyhow," put in the lanky skipper. "What hadwe better dew?"

  "Got any arms on board?" inquired Dewey. "Look suspicshus. Think I'sbetter be gettin' back to my old hooker," he added half to himself.

  Amos Jordan, the first mate, was standing close by. "I reckon we've gotsome few," he said.

  "Git 'em aout," ordered the Captain, laconically; "and, Cap'n Sam, youstay here with us, won't ye?"

  Amos started forward. In a few minutes he had produced four oldmuskets, and a half-dozen rusty cutlasses. But there were deadlierweapons yet on board, of which there were a plenty. Keen-pointedlances, that had done to death many a great whale; and harpoons, withslender shanks and heads sharp as razors. And there were strong armswhich knew well how to use them. The Captain went into the cabin andcame back with three great, clumsy pistols. One he slipped under hislong-tailed coat, and the two others he gave to Captain Dewey and AmosJordan. There were twenty men in the _Blazing Star's_ own crew. Thevisitors from the old whaler added five more, and with the three matesand the two captains, five more again. In all there were thirty menprepared to receive the mysterious rowboat, and receive her warmlyshould anything be belligerent in her mission.

  "I dunno what they want," said Captain Ezra; "but to my mind it don'tlook right."

  "Jesso, jesso," assented Captain Samuel.

  A plan was agreed upon; a very simple one. The men were to keep wellhid behind the bulwarks, and if the small boat proved unfriendly, shewas to be warned off the side, and if she persisted in trying to board,then they were to give her a proper reception. The suspense would notbe long. The boat was now so close that the number of men in her couldbe counted distinctly. There were eighteen in all, for the stern sheetswere seen to be crowded. The brig at this moment lay in her own littlecalm, about two miles directly off the starboard beam. The rest of thewhaling fleet had noticed her, and had sighted the approach of thearmed cutter also. They were edging off to the eastward, evidentlyhailing one another and huddling close together. But the _BlazingStar_, with just enough wind to move her, held her course.

  All was suppressed excitement, for the armed small craft was now withina half a cable's length. "Ship ahoy!" hailed an officer in a short,round jacket, standing up. "Heave to there; I want to board you!"

  "Waal," drawled Captain Ezra, through his nose, "I dunno as I shall.What d'ye want?"

  There was no response to this; the officer merely turned to his crew:"Give way!" he ordered, and in half a dozen strokes the cutter had slidunder the _Blazing Star's_ quarter. The man in the bow turned and madefast to the main chains with a boat-hook. Captain Steele was smoking anold corncob pipe. He looked to be the most peaceful soul in the worldas he stepped to the gangway, but under his long coat-tails his handgrasped the old horse-pistol. Several heads now showed above thebulwarks. The strange officer, who had evidently not expected to see somany, hesitated. Captain Ezra blew a vicious puff of smoke from betweenhis firm lips.

  "Better keep off the side," he said; "we don't want ye on board; who beye, anyhow?"

  "Damn your insolence, I'll show you!" cursed the stranger. "On boardhere, all you men!" He sprang forward. Captain Ezra did not pull hispistol. He stepped back half a pace and his eye gleamed wickedly. Theunknown had almost come on board when he was met full in the chest bythe heel of Captain Ezra's cowhide boot. Now the Captain's legs werevery long and strong, and aided by the firm grasp he had on both sidesof the gangway, the gentleman in the round, brass-buttoned jacket flewthrough the air over the heads of his crew in the boat below andplumped into the water on the other side. One of the men in the boatinstantly drew a pistol and fired straight at the Captain's head--theball whistled through his old straw hat! But that shot decided matters.It was answered by the four old rusty muskets, the last one hangingfire so long that there was a perceptible time between the flash in thepan, and the report. Two men fell over on the thwarts of the smallboat. The man who had fired the pistol sank back, pierced through andthrough by the slender shank of a harpoon. But the crowning effect ofthis attempt to repel boarders occurred just at this minute. A spareanchor, that had been on deck close to the bulwarks, caught the eye ofAmos Jordan. "Here, bear a hand!" he cried, and with the help of threeothers he hove the heavy iron over the bulwarks. It struck full on thecutter's bows, and crushed them as a hammer would an eggshell. Theshock threw most of the occupants from off the thwarts; the boat filledso quickly that in an instant they were struggling in the water--oneman gained the deck, but a blow on the head from the butt of CaptainDewey's pistol laid him out senseless. One of the _Mason's_ crew hurleda lance at one of the helpless figures in the water. It missed him by ahair's-breath.

  "Avast that!" roared Captain Ezra. "We don't want to do more murder!"

  The officer who had been projected into the deep by the Captain'swell-timed kick had grasped the gunwales of the sunken boat. His facewas deathly white; thirteen of his crew had managed to save themselvesby laying hold with him. One of them was roaring lustily for some oneto heave a rope to him. To save his life, Captain Ezra could not helpgrinning.

  "Waal," he said, "this is a pretty howdy do. Ye kin come on board naow,if ye want tew, only leave them arms whar they be." As if in obedienceto this order, a sailor in a blue jacket with a white stripe down eacharm and trimming the collar, unbuckled his heavy belt with his freehand and cast his cutlass far from him. Two others followed suit.

  "Naow," said Captain Ezra, "one at a time come on board, an' we'll findaout what ye mean by attackin' a peaceable whaler with dangerousweapons, who's homeward baound an' hain't offended ye."

  The first man up the side was a red-cheeked, black-whiskeredindividual, who mumbled, as he sheepishly gazed about him: "Douse myglims but this is a bloody rum go."

  "Tie 'im up," ordered Captain Ezra. The man submitted to having hishands made fast behind his back.

  "Now for the next one," said Captain Ezra, blowing a calm puff of smokeup in the air, and watching it float away into the hollow of themainsail. In turn the thirteen discomfited sailors were ranged alongthe bulwarks, and no one was left but the white-faced officer, clingingto the wreckage of the boat that was now towing alongside, for one ofthe crew had heaved a blubber-hook into her, at the end of a bit ofratline.

  "Spunky feller, ain't he?" suggested Captain Ezra, turning to CaptainDewey, who, in the excitement had taken two big chews of tobacco, oneafter another, and was working both sides of his jaws at once. "Thelast t' leave his sinkin' ship. That's well an' proper."

  The young man--for he was scarcely more than thirty--needed someassistance up the side, for Captain Ezra's boot-heel had come nigh tostaving in his chest.

  "Naow, foller me, young man," Captain Ezra continued, walking towardthe quarter-deck. He ascended the ladder to the poop, and the drippingfigure, a little weak in the knees, guarded by a boat-steerer armedwith a harpoon, obeyed and followed. As the Captain turned to meet himhe noticed that the man in uniform still had his side-arms.

  "I'll trouble you for that thar fancy blubber-knife, young man," hesaid, "an' then I'll talk t' ye." The officer detached his sword fromhis belt and handed it over. He had not offered yet to say a word.

  "Naow," said Captain Ezra, holding the sword behind his back, "who beye, an' what d' yer want? as I observed before."

  "I'm Lieutenant Levison of His Majesty's brig _Badger_."

  "Waal, ye ought to be ashamed of yourself," broke in Captain Ezra.

  "'What d'ye mean by attackin' a peaceful whaler?'"]

  "I am," responded the young man. "You may believe that, truly."

  "Waal, what d'ye mean by attackin' a peaceful whaler?"

  "Why, don't you know?" replied the officer, with an expression ofastonishment.

  "Know what?"

  "That there's a war between England and America?"

  "Dew tell!" ejaculated Captain Steele, huskily, almost dropping hispipe. He stepped forward to the break of the poop.

  "Captain Dewey," he shouted, "this here feller says thar's a war."

  "So these folks have been tellin'," answered the Captain of the _ElijahMason_; "but I don't believe it. They're pirates; that's what they be."

  "Gosh, I guess that's so," said Captain Ezra. "I reckon you'repirates," turning to the officer. "I hain't heard tell of no war."

  "We are not pirates," hotly returned the young man. "Damn yourinsolence, I'm an officer of His Britannic Majesty, King George!"

  "Tush, tush! no swearin' aboard this ship. What was you goin' to do,rowin' off to us?"

  The officer remained silent, fuming in his anger. "I was going to makea prize of you; and if I had you on board ship, I'd----"

  "Belay that!" ordered Captain Ezra, calmly. "Ye didn't make a prize ofme, an' you're aboard my ship. Don't forgit it."

  "Well," broke in the young man, angrily, "what are you going to do withme?" Captain Dewey had by this time come up on the quarter-deck,followed by the mates.

  "I presume likely," said the skipper of the _Blazing Star_, ratherthoughtfully, "I presume likely we'll hang ye."

  The Englishman--for all doubts as to his nationality were set at restby his appearance and manner of speech--drew back a step. His face,that had grown red in his anger, turned white again, and he gave aglance over his shoulder. The brig, hopelessly becalmed, lay way offagainst the horizon.

  As he looked, a puff of smoke broke from her bows. It was the signalfor recall. He winced, and his eye followed the glance of the stalwartfigure with the harpoon that stood behind him.

  "For God's sake, don't do that!" he said hastily. "I tell you, sir,that there is a war. There has been war for almost four months now.Upon my word of honor."

  The two captains exchanged looks of incredulity. Suddenly theprisoner's face lit up. "I can prove it to you," he said excitedly."Here is a Yankee newspaper we took from a schooner we captured off theCapes five days ago."

  "_The New Bedford Chronicle_, by gosh!" exclaimed Captain Ezra, inastonishment, taking the soaked brown package. He spread it out on therail.

  "It's true, Cap'n Sammy, it's true," he continued excitedly. "Thar's awar; listen to this," and he read in his halting, sailor manner, thestartling headlines: "The Frigate _Constitution_ Captures the BritishFrigate _Guerriere_. Hurrah for Hull and his Gallant Seamen! Again theEagle Screams with Victory."

  There was much more to it, and Captain Ezra read every word. "Youngman," he said at last, "I owe ye an apology. If ye'll come daown intoour cabin, I kin mix ye a toddy of fine old Medford rum. Between lawfulan' honest enemies there should be no hard feelin's, when the fate ofwar delivers one into the hands of 'tother. Cap'n Sammy," he observedas he reached the cabin, "if we had really knowed thar was a war, we'da gone back and took that thar brig."

  "Yaas," returned Captain Dewey, "we be summat behind the times."

  His eyes twinkled as he glanced out of the cabin window. Still becalmedand almost hull down, H.M.S. _Badger_ was but a speck against thehorizon.

  The Englishman drew a long deep breath.

  "Come, sir," spoke up Captain Ezra. "Don't get down hearted. 'Live anlearn,' that's my motto. We're drinkin' your good health, sir, joinright in."

  * * * * *

  When the _Blazing Star_ arrived in port, she turned over to the UnitedStates authorities an officer and twelve men, prisoners of war.