THE LAST SURVIVOR

Evening Star, Issue 16090, 15 April 1916, Page 3

THE LAST SURVIVOR

[By Pett.r B. Kvne, in 'Collier's.*)

Quite the most interesting and pictnr«sque spot on tha water front of Old San Francisco was the establishment of Threefingered Jack, publican and sailors' board-ing-house master. In the interests of sanitation and civic pride it is perhaps just as well that the great conflagration of 1906 removed him and his ramshackle institution, although, as one who knew him and revered him for certain rough virtues, and who further regarded his place of business as the haunt of maritime romance, trasjedv, and adventure, I regret, the passing." For Three-fingered Jack's place was patronised exclusively by the men from the dark blue. Seated in tho row of arm chairs along the ■walls, or playing cards for tho drinks in the stuffy little back loom, were ahvavs to he found (in the old days) half a dozen Bailors of tho typo that looks with ill-con-cealed aversion on steamship men. Here Mere no Sorlh. Pacific laborers, but tho men of the Seven Seas, who cling to life with their hands, and when at length life is abandoned depart in one of two orthodox fashions—suddenly in their working clothes over the lee rail in a, smother of foam, or slowly in a nightgrown in some marine hospital.

It was from one of these that I had this tale of the barque Geneva—an unbelievable tale, 'tis true, but, nevertheless, a tale so perfectly co-ordinated that unbelief gives way to wonder, wonder to doubt. and doubt to . But you shall bo your own judges of tho story. My task 'is merely that of a historian. So to tho storv.

It was night in Three-fingered Jack's. The talk had been of ships that never returned, and the maritime boniface had bethought himself of a ship that returned, but minus her crew, having lost them in the South Indian Ocean, and apparently far no conceivable reason. "There's a mystery for you," he declared, "an' a mystery that's never been solved. You've all heard about the barque Geneva, haven't you?"

It appearing from tho silence that nobody present had heard the tale, Threefingered Jack, ever on the alert to stimulate trade, suggested that if somebody would wet the whistles of the company ho would relate as much of the yarn as he knew. And thus he proceeded :

" Tho Geneva is—for she's runnin' yet—a wood on barque of about 1,800 tons register, owned by Baldwin and Cobb, of Bath. Mobile. On the voyage that I'm speak in' of she was commanded by a fine decent little Bluenose by the name of Nathan Munson. I knew him well, havin' furnished him with A.8.3 off an' on for rears whenever he'd touch in this port. llis mate at the time I'm speakin' of was young Ambrose Cobb, son of the junior partner, for old Cobb was a man who held his own ideas, an' one o' them was that no eon o' his should presume to manage a ship's until he'd come up from beforo_ the mast to a master's ticket. I disremember tho name o' the second mate, but no matter. Ho was a Bluenose. too, an' a sailor every inch o' him. or he wouldn't have been a mate in a Baldwin and Cobb drip. The crew was Down East men mostly, an' at least half o' them had been in tho Geneva for several voyages, for she was what you'll seldom find, an' that's a family ship—all hands happy an' satisfied an' with no reason for quittin' the ship when a voyage was finished. Good grub an' decent "treatment was never yet wasted on a good sailer, for al! the mates an' skipper? that'll tell vou otherwise; an' if ever tbtw was a ship that a mutiny couldn't hav6 happened on—. if ever there was a ship better able to cope with wind an' wave than mostr—that ship was the Geneva.

" She cleared from Surabaya (Java) in June o" 1900, loaded with coffeo &n' spices for discharge at New York. Like all o' the- Baldwin and Oobb ships, sho had accommodation for a few passengers, an' in Surabaya she'd picked up one passenger, ••i German jcwjiitirt, or naturalist or something -who'd been out in the wilds o' Borneo an' Sumatra for a couple o' years, fn' was so wracked tip with jungle" fever he concluded to go to New York on a faihn' vessel, figurin' the long sea voyage would do him a lot. o' good. "Well, Fir, maybe a month-later the pood old gunboat Comanche, bound from JV.it a via for Hampton Eoads via tho Cape of Hood Hope, found herself down around 49deg south " "What was the Comanche cloin' so far youth," one of Jack's auditors demanded pointedly, believing that ho had caught our host in a nautical error, than which naught is mora provocative of .scorn in a deep-sea sailor. "For the benefit of the savage- that interrupted me," continued Three-fingered Jack, still addressing the company in general, "I'll swing off hit course loiig enough to stato that I'm fellip.' this storv, an' that I know what I'm talkin' about, because I saved the clippin's from the Freniantle ' Argus,' an' later I had the storv from a deserter that was one o' the bluejackets aboard the Comanche when =he picked up the Geneva. The .Comanche was down in 49 south latitude because that was the safest place for her at the time. Mie was one o' them old-time gunboats that was built in the eighties for service <->n the China coast—barque-ripged, with gtims'l booms, an' a fast, free sailer. When "J 0 , wind t'Wd slip the clutch on tho shaft an' let her propeller turn free, an when she didn't have anv wind she could <\o 10 knots under steam. Three days out from Batavia she ran into a tvphoon, an' bucked it with her engines. Mio was stove up a bit, an' just about the time- the storm passed over she kicked £. t r , wl:eel - T!w glass came up, an' they had faar weather for two weeks, an' then along comes another typhoon, with the wind from the east'ard an' haulin' to north o' east, on' the commander o' the Comanche did the sensible thing—he just run south'ard until he cleared it, "■Well, then, tho Comanche had made all tho southing she needed to clear this typhoon, an' when the glass began to rise she stood away on her course an ' pretty soon sho sights a barque, sail set an stoenn' wild. The Comanche hoisted her _ number by international code, but xeceivin' no answer sho altered her course and started after tho barque, an' when finally Ehe was overhauled 'twas seen she was deserted

"We'll have a look at for,' sa-rs the commander of the Comanche. The baTque wis rampin' along at a smart clip, so they had to launch the steam cutter, an' a boarding officer an' a dozen bluejackets went ehasin' her. As they come under her stern they saw that she was the Heneva, of Bath, Mo., an' that the boat tails from tho davits, where the dinghy should haro been were trailin' in the water. I he falls from the starboard davits, where. i ' ,• I , lfeboafc had been swung, were also danglm, bub No. 1. which had been s<vung clear o' the davits on the poTfc side, was restm' in a cradle on top o' the ■house. l

" ' What a prize lot o' maritime ImyseecU vt w. the H ttle an ' leav-e the difeboat, _ says the boarding officer. «That's the craziest thing I ever heard of. Stand ■by, two of yon, to grab those boat falls an shin aboard before she rolls back on

> The cutter shot In under her stern, /&<.*„ °* 1 !i en J u , ra ,P« d ail ' prabbed the 3? . fal ]«• the cutter parsed vp the hfoboat falls, followed by another bluejacket On* tf them took the helm, an the others backed her yards an' hove

« r ' t- y Ea - T ' Uyas mcjumv--7%• «.• ° Shlp ' fi P ick an' span an' not a thing with her-an' not a man Jack aboard. The boarding officer parched high an' low for the Geneva's lWrt. log , ?n find >*» Provin' that the skipper arf his officers had deserted the ehip an' took it with them. An there couldn't have been any disease Aboard, such as cholera or yellow jack, lo scare them off, for if there had been they must have known thev couldn't •cap at by takin' to the boats. • She rrnedla crew o' 12 foremast hands, which Mb the cook, the skipper, the two mates, in the German passenger totalled 17 Ben—an' tW had taken, the lifeP. *S * % Aln^a 7> lfc **& ads to jea«m ■fit the' 17 was alive when they loft iLt ship, otherwise thejr oould all have

fitted In one lifeboat! An* there hadh'tl been any fight, because there wasn't any signs of it. There was a spatter <y 'blood, up near the break o' the fo'castle, but there was also a couple o' live chickens in a coop, an' the head, oE a chicken .lyin' in the port scupper close by, an' the carpenter's brocdaxe, with some" blood an' feathers on it, was lyin' on top o' the scuttle butt. All the belayin' pins was in place; likewise the capstan bars; her decks was clear, the braces taut, an' the gear was laid up' neatly on the pins. When the well was sounded there'was only half an inch o' water in it; the hatches was down tight an' the cargo intact; she had plenty o' water in, hor tanks, an" the scuttle "butt was half 'full. , She had plenty o' provisions in the pantry an' storeroom, although it was plain to be seen from the confusion in the storeroom that her boats had been provisioned. Everything was as orderly in the fo'castle as you'll ever find it in" a fo'castle, an' there was only one thing here to make a man wonder. While she carried a crew o' 12 A.B.s, there was only seven canvas sea bags on hand, an' since we know that every deep-water sailor has a sea bag an' that when he takes to the boats in mid-ocean ho leaves it behind him, we've got to admit that there was somethin' strange in seven sea bags in that fo'castle instead o' 12. '

"Another thing that looked mighty strange was the fact that the Geneva, was under all plain sail to the to'gallan's'ls an' had her helm lashed when they found her. Why did they take the trouble to lash the helm when they left her? Why, to keep her rudder from thrashin around an' bustin' otf. Then why didn't they take the canvas off her before they left"? If Munson expected she'd drift around an' maybe be salvaged, ho wouldn't have left her with all that sail set, knowin' that, the first gale she struck would strip every rag off her, or take the sticks out o' her. No, sir. If he'd thought anything about the ship he'd have hove her to on the starboard tack, under fiyin' jib an' upper fore-top-sail, or lower foretopmast stays'l an' ctee-reefed spanker. Then he would have lashed her wheel amidships an' left hor safe, makin' about a mile an' hour, an' with a fair chance o' bein' picked up an' towed into port. I tell you, gentlemen, 1 knew Captain Munson, an' ho was nobody's fool, afloat or ashore. He knew his business.

" In the skipper's cabin .everything was very orderly. Xothin' seemed to have been disturbed. Tho barometer was missin'. likewise tho chronometer; but Munson's sextant (it had his name on it) was lyin' on his desk. Of course, that seemed to show as plain as the wart on the nose o' the swab that interrupted me a minute ago that Munson was dead before tho crew left the Geneva; the mate had a sextant o' his own, so he took the barometer an' the chronometer which belonged to the ship an' left the skipper's sextant behind. But the mate's room, like the master's, was undisturbed also! All his Sunday clothes was there, an' his gold watch hangin' on a nail in the wall, an' a loaded revolver under his pillow. There was a picture o' his best girl sittin' on his desk, an' double-framed photos of old man Cobb an' Sirs Cobb, an' inside his desk was the smooth* log, written up to a week before an' showin' nothin 1 excitiu' except the mysterious loss o' tho helmsman the night before the makin' o' the last entry. It was supposed he'd gone insane an' 'jumped overboard, as he was a queer, crack-brained man at best, an' was alone on the poop at the time; consequently no other member o' the crewcould have hove him overboard, an' there had been no outcry. The man had como aboard very drunk at Surabaya, an' for a week he'd had the horrors an' been perfectly useless. Mr Cobb had feared to send him aloft.

" The, second mate's room—come to think of it, his name was Joshua Kent—was all upset. He'd cleaned up prettv well before he left; every little personal thing he had was gone, an' you'll remember this wasn't so in the case o' the first mate, Cobb. So it would sorter look as_ if young Cobb was as dead as the skipper before the crew deserted the Geneva, the second- - mate, not havin' a sextant o' his own, helping himself to the mate's. An' when we recall the fact that there was only seven sea bags in the fo'castle—-an' a sailor bein' forced to take to the small boat is never allowed to her up with his belonging—well, it's goin' to take a smarter man than me to figure it out. If seven men left with the cook an' the second mate an' the passenger, they left seven bags behind. Then what became o' the other five ba°-s tn' the other five men? Did the five men die an' did the second mate heave their bags overboard after 'em, or, o' the twelve men that signed for the cruise, was five without sea bags?" "How about the cook?" one of the audience queried. " He left a batch o' bread in the galley stove," three-fingered Jack replied promptly, " an took some o' his thingsclothes mostly, an' a blanket or two—for his berth off the galley had but one blanket in it.

How about the passenger?" queried a swarthy, weather-beaten, powerfullybu.lt little man at the end of the bar. •\Vhat was this German naturalist's name?

"I disremember, lad. Vnn Something or other.'' °

" Wasn't it Franz Von Weigand—Dr rranz Von "

The same, ' three-fingered Jack replied promptly. "You've a better memory for names than I have He was nt a regular doctor, as I remember, but a doctor of philosophy or law or science or something, from the University ol Leipzig. Well, the doctor got away from the Geneva alive, although ho didn't expect to live very long after leavin'. His will was found in the ship's safe, along with the ships papers (again provin' Manson an Cobb was dead, or they'd never left the ship's papers behind), ihere wasnt any money in the safe or aboard the ship— naturally, since nobody on board needed any money an' wouldn't have brought Dutch money" from Java to >iew lork if they could help it. The Dutchman said in his will that while his health was good compared to what it had been two months before-said he hadn't had any chills or fever since comin' aboard the Geneva—an he was sure he wasn't insane, an' he knew he wasn't frightened ° 4 -^l n still he thought he'd make his will an' get his affairs shipshape for the reason realised he stood a fat chance o' dyin m the near future, as ho was about to embark upon the strangest adventure that had ever befallen a human bein' since man quit bein' a monkey down on all fours an commenced to stand erect on his hind cgs. He said he purposely avoided leayin behind him a yarn he could spin -this for three reasons. In the first place, he didn't have time to write it. an' th* record would appear in the ship's W anyhow; moreover, his standin' - IS a scientist precluded his makin' anv report on the matter that might bo semi-official an he must make his report, if at all, to the place where he'd got his education—the University of Leipzig. He said, too, that he couldn't lay himself open to the charge o bein crazy by tellin' the story now, because he only knew half of it i-or o bem' called a scientific fraud when he was dead an gone because he'd subnutted an incomplete report. He said he had to have photographs to prove his discovery-pan he was goin' after the photographs. He left directions for forward in all the specimens—birds, snakes on beasts or a 1 sorts-that was stored in the ships hold to the University of Leipzig, an willed his entire estate to Joshua Kent, second mate o' the ■imeri can bark Geneva. He referred to Kent as a/sailor with the soul of a true scientist, a true gentleman, an' a true friend."

Three-fingered Jack filled the elates of the company; then he leaned his elbows or. the bar and scrutinised each m,->n ere fully.

"Can you boat that?" ho demanded "Here's this crazy loon of a Dutchman that spends his life collectin' monkevs an' other critters, callin' that no-good son of a pirate of a second mate a true scientist a true gentleman, an' a true friend. An' right away Kent makes him out a larned poor judge o' human nature an' maritime ethics, for irLstead o' stickin' by the ship an' doing his duty by hia owners, he leaves her—turns her loose in the south

Indian Ocean- with all plain sail set, to ramp to ruin with a. valuable cargo o' coffee an' spices, an' the doctor's crates o' specimens in 2so. 1 hold ! Eh? What do you think of that? What a sublimated son of a fool that man Kent must have been. First he hornswoggles the German passenger to make out a, will in his favor; then he proves his ingratitude by not carin' a hoot in a holler what becomes of all them animal specimens tho Dutchman has iieen years collectin' in the wilds o' Sumatra an' Borneo an' such-like places ; ;.n', lastly, this dog-gorned second mate goes overside an' leaves the will behind him in the ship's safe. I'm hopin' he'll ,«how up some time to claim the estate; then, if he ain't crazy altogether, maybe the world will find out what become" o' the crew o' the Geneva, for it's 15 years agone since the Comanche's prize crew sailed her into Fremantle an' cabled her owners to send a skipper to take charge o' her, an' tl)e world ain't any the wiser as to what become o' them than it was then."

"It is a strange story, indeed," I remarked, to break ilie silence that followed the rendition of Three-fingcied Jack's remarkable yarn. "I would give something to leant the .finish of it." The little, swarthy man who had interrupted our host to inquire the name of the Geneva's ill-fated passenger eyed me with appraising interest. " How much would you give, matey?" he queried. " Old Three-fingers here say a you're a writiin' man. Maybe you could write the yarn tip an' make somethin' out of it?"

"I could, indeed," I answered.- "-It would be worth 25 dollars to the man who could solve that mystery, and prove to me that he had tho correct solution."

The swarthy little man smiled. "Well, sir," he answered, "I wouldn't undertake to prove I had the correct solution. You must, remember that German doctoT was afraid to tell half the story, for fear of being accused of being a lunatic or a fraud."

" A good many smarter men than you have tried to figure out that mystery, 'my lad, an' they never got anywhere," Threefin gered Jack reminded him. "It just ain't figurable—that's all. I explained as murh as any man familiar with ships an' the habits o' Eeafarin' men will ever explain." T!ie swarthy little -nan subsided, abashed, stowed away his grog, and presently left the loom via T>he side door leading to the rooming house above. He returned in a few minutes, passed through the bar room, and out into the street, and halt an hour later I found him waiting for mo at the corner of Stuart and Market streets. He carried a paper bound package ui.der his

' See here, sir," he said, briskly, "I'm shipping out v.\ the May Queen as second mate the day rfter tomorrow, and 1 wart to get my sextant out of hock. I soaked it for five dollars tho day before yesterday " (and he held up a blue pawnticket from BilgewntfT Billy's salcty station at 42 Embaxcadero-it was >\l East street in those days). "If yon trive me 10 dollars now, we'll go together to Bilgewater Billy's an' redeem the sextant; then yon keep the sextant until you've nid a chance to look through this log book. If you're satisfied after reading that you've found out what became of the crew of the Geneva, and why the men left the ship, then leave the other 15 dollars with Threefingered Jack for me. On the other hand, if you think you've been swindled, you can sell my sextant for 10 dollars and get your money back. It's worth 15 easily The truth of the matter is, sir, it used to belong to Ambrose Cobb, first mate of the bark Geneva.. It's inscribed: 'To AmbrosoCobb, 4th, upon the occasion of the granting of his license as second mate, Boston, Mass., July 21, 1809. From his father, Ambrose Cobb, 3d.'" (To b« continued.)