TALES & SKETCHES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 850, 15 June 1888, Page 8

TALES & SKETCHES.

[NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.]

THE DEATH SHIP-

A STRANGE STORY. AN ACCOUNT OF A CRUISE IN THE FLYING ■ DUTCHMAN COLLECTED FROM THE EAEERS OF THE LATE AIR GEOFFREY FENTON, OF EOELAR, MASTER MARINER.

By W. Clark Russell,

Author of I The Wreck of the Grosvenqr, • The Golden Hope,’ &c. &o. [All Rights Reserved.] No stories take such vivid hold of the imagination of readers, or afford more scope for a writer dispossd towards the picturesque, the mysterious, or the sensational, than those dealing with the sailor’s life, and incidents occurring on the broad bosom of the mighty deep. And no living writer of stories of the sea enjoys such wide and deserved popularity as the author of our New Work of Fiction—W. Clark Russell, whose brilliant romances have gained him a front rank reputation in a field first exploited by Captain Marryat, and have obtained for him the hearty admiration of all lovers of this favorite form of literature. The world gladly welcomes each new romance by a writer so richly endowed as W. Claik Russell, author of the ‘Wreck of the Grosyonpr,’ ‘The Golden Hope: a Romance of the Deep*’ * A Sea Queen,’ and other exquisite stories of the sea. Mr Rus? pell is son of the well-known musipal composer and singer, whose popular melodiqß, ‘ The Old Arm Chair,’ < Woodman Spare that Tree,’ 'A Life on the Ocean Wave,’ Chear, Boys, Cheer,’ ‘Man the Life-Boat,’ i The Ship on Fire,’&o., were the fashionable

songs of a quartor-of-a-century ago, and Are still familiar to, and onjoyed by, the present generation. Mr Russell, senior, was warmly interested in the anti-alave>;y cause, and iu the emigration of Euglishlaboi ers to America, and made several professional visits to the States with his family, during one of which, his son, W. Clark Russell, was born, at Carlton House Hotel, Broadway, New York City, on February 24th, 1544. Shortly afterwaids the family were again in England, Young Russell was W inchester, and went to sea in Dunoan Dunbar’s service. For 6ight years he led a roving life in the mercantile marine, storing up the material which was to do him good servioe in future years.

CHAPTER IV. WE ARE CHASED AND NEARLY CAPTOREED. We talkod occasionally of the Phantom Ship after this for a few days, the Captain ou one oocasion, to my surprise, producing an old volume on magic and. sorcery which if seems fie had, along with an odd collection of books, in his cabin, and arguing and reasoning out of if. But he never spoke of this thing in presence of the mate, who to be sure was a simple, downright man, without the least imaginable flavor of imagination to ren. der sapid the lean austerity of his thoughts, and who, therefore, as you may suppose, aa little credited thestoriea told of the Dutchman’s ship as the Hebrew Jew believes in our Lord.

Genoa, as there were but the Captain and me to keep this shuttleoock of a fancy flying, it fluttered before long to the ground ; perhaps the quicker, because on the Sunday following our sneaking with the Plymouth snow, there happened a piece of work sharp and real enough to drive all ideas of visions and phantasms out of our heads. It was ten o’clock in the morning when a sail was descried broad on the larboard beam. It was not long, however, before we made out that the vessel down in tho eastern quarter was steering large ; nqd at the time the appearance qf her qa'nvas assured us of this, she slackened away' hep larboard braces to head up for us, hauling upon a bowline with q suddenness that left-her intention to parley with us questionless. We hoisted the British ensign and held on a bit, viewing hep. with aq iqtentness that brought Ufttey' °,f eyes'-.to a squint ; then the Captain, qbse.r.viiig fhaf Yhfi showed no colors and was q big ship, put his helm up foe q run. , . . No sooner had we braced in our yards when the fellow behind us squared away too, and threw out lower and topmast stud-ding-sails with a rapidity that satisfied us she was a man-of-war, apparently a liner. This notion, joined to the belief that she was a Dutchman, was start enough for us all. Our small company were not likely to hold their own against the disciplined nift3B£3 of a two or three flecker, e.veq though she should prove a Spaniard, Qur gnu 3 were too few to do anything with tiers of batteries heavy enough to blow us. out of water, feo as there was "nothing for it but a fair trial of speed, wo sprung to our work like-hounds newly unleashed, got her dead before it, ran out studdiDg sail booms oq both,, sides, qnd sent the sails aloft soaking wet for the service ableness of the weight the wetuegs w ol, ld give ; and stationing open in the tops and crosstreeE we whipped up-buckets of water to them, with which they drenched the oanvas, till our cloths must have looked as dark as a collier’s to the ship astern of us. It was very slqw work at first, and we were tiiqnkfal for that; for every Roup earried qs nearer to the night jnto which the moon now entered sq }qte aqd glowed wRk so little pqwep, even when qhe had floated high, that we could count, after sundown, upon several hours of darkness ; bub it not long before it beoame evident to us all that, spite of the ceaseless wetting of dur sails, the ship in our wake was growing. Then, satisfied of her superiority, and convinced of our nationality, she let fly a forecastle gun at us, of the ball of which we saw nothing, and hoisted the Dutch colors at her fore-royal mastheqd, whepe, at all events, we could not fail to distinguish the flag. ‘ Confound suc.h lqck !’• c.ries at this. 1 How can oup. qpp.le b.o.ws contend witlv those pyramids pf sails there? What s to be done f he says, qs if thinking aloud ‘lt’s clear she’s our master in running, and I fear she’ll be more than a match ou a bow with the weather gage too ! And yet, by the thunder of Heaven it does go against the current of any sort of English blood to haul down thqt piece of bunting there,’ says he, casting his eyes at the peak where our flag was blowing, ‘ to the comHinnd of a Dutchman’s cannon , , « The wind’s coming away more easterly, said the mate, with a slow turning of his into the quarter he mentioned, ‘.and it U be breezing up presently, if there’s any signification in the darker blue of tfle sea that 'R happened as he said ; but the Dutchman go* the first slant of it, and you saw the harder pulling of hia canvas, in the founded rigidity of light upon the cloths, whilst the dusky line of tfle wind, followed by the flashings of the small seas, whose leaping heads it showeped into spray, was yet. approaching opr languid ship, whose lower and heavy canvqs often flapped in the of shot oame flying after us from the man-of-war’s bowchasers ere the breeze swept to our spars ; and now the silvery line of white water her stem was heaving up and sending in a brilliant whirl past her was easy to be seen ; aye ! it was even possible to make out the very lines of her reef-points upon the forecourse and topsail, whilst through the glass you could discern groups of men stationed upon her forecastle, aqfl mark some quarter-deck figure qow qnd agaiu impatiently bouna o$ the V&i’ and hang it like a davrt, with an arm found j* backstay, in his eagerness to see how fast they were coming flp with qs. The excitement o,f this chase was deep in us when the Captain gaye, orders fo train a couple of guns aft, apd fo continue flrffigat the pursuing crqft; which was done, the powfier- B Woke blowing like proiigious I glistening cobwebs into our canvas forward. f Meanwhile the English colors flew hardily at our peak, whilst preventer guys were clapped I on the swinging booms and other gear added to give strength aloft ;‘for the wind was w.

■ creasing as if by magic, the ribbed clouds had broken up, and large bodies of vapour were sailing overhead with many inory-whit shoulders crowding upon the horizon, and the strain upon the studding-sail tacks was extremely heavy. But you saw that it was Captain Skevington’s intention.to make the Saracen drag what she could not carry, and to let what chose blow away before ho started a rope-yarn, whilst we had that monster astern there sticking to our skirts ; and by this time it was manifest that with real weight m the wind our heels were pretty nearly as keen as hers, which made us hope that should the breeze freshen yet we might eventually get away. Well, at three o’clock, it was blowing downright hard, though the weather was fine, the heavens mottled, the clouds being compacted and sailing higher, stormy iq complexion and moving slowly ; the. soq hqfl grown hollow and was most gloriously violet in color, with plumes of snqw wßieh ourlefl to the ga]o oq the head of each liquid coqrser ; the sun was oyer opr fore-topgallant yard-arm and showered down hfls glory sq as to form a golden weltering road fop us* fq steer beside. The ship behind qqiohafl hjs light and loqkefl tq he phasing us on/ wings of yeflovy silk, Rut never since her keel i*ad been laid doiyn had theSaracqu been so driven. The waters hailed up to the blnek-faced turbaned figure under the bow* sprit, and from qft I oould sometimes ohserve the glassy ourve of the how sea, arching away for fafhoms forward, showing plain through the headrails. A couple,of hands hung grinding upon the wheel with set teeth, and the sinews in their naked arms stood out like cords ; others were at the relieving tackles ; and through it we pelted, raising about us a bubbled, spuming and hissing surface that might have to the passage of a whirlwind, reneats,flY firing at the Dutch heave of the surge ga vq us Vue ohanoe, and noticing the constant’ ’flash in his bows and the vghite smother that blew along with him, though the balls of neither appeared to touah the other of us.

Yet, that we should have been ultimately overhauled and brought to, a stand I fflliy, believe but for q proyid’fAtqai disaster. Jfor. no; matter how dai;.k and flust may. kAX-q drawn arou,ud at the Dutchman was too close fo, us, tq, OftLs the loom of the great press of canvas we should be forced to Carry ; at least, so I hold ; and then, again, there was the consideration of the wind falling us with the ooming of the stars, for we were still in the gentle parallels. But let all have been as it might ; I had just noted the lightning-like wink of one of the enemy’s fore-chasers, when to my amazemsnt, ere the ball of smoke could be shredded into lengths* by the gale, I observed the whole fabriq oif the Dutchman’s towering with the great course, sujelliug topsail, top-gallant sail and royof, arid the fore-topmast stavsail and jibs melt away as an icicle -approached by flame ; and in a breath, it seemed, the huge ship swung round, pitching and foaming after the manner of a harpooned whale v with her bioadside to us, exhibiting tho whole fore-part of her most grievously ahd astonishingly wrecked. • ’ A mighty chees Vverifc up from o,ur decks at the sight, and there was a deal of clqpi ping of hands and laughter- Captain Skeyington seized the telescope, and talked aa he worked away with it. - ‘A rotten foremast by the thunder of Heaven !’ he erred, using hi? fqvorite adjuration ; ‘it could The nothing else. No shot our guns throw co,uld work such bavoq. By the height that’s left standing the apar has fetched away close under the top. And the rqoss ! the rqcss For a whole hour after this we touched not a rope, leaving our ship to rush from the Dutohman straight as an arrow from a bow. But, Lord !.—the storming aloft ! the fierce straining of our canvas till tacks and guys, sheets and braces rang out hpop the winfl like the clanking of bells to. a strain, UP TO them tauter than that o,f harp strings ; the boiling noises of the seas all about opr bow and under our counter, where the great bodies of fpqm away into our wake, as the white torrent raves along its bed from the foot of-a high cqtaract! There was au excitement iu this speod and triumph of escape from what must bavo proved a heavy and inglorious disaster to us all which put fire into the blood, and never could I have imagined how sentient a ship is, how participant of what stirs the minds of those she carries, until I marked the mngnificent eagerness of our vessel’s flight—her headlong domination of the large billows which underran her, and the marble-hard distention of her sails, reminding you of the teniae qfleeku of one who holds his breath, in' a run, toy ijfls. life.

Distance qnd thq sinking of- the sun, qnd the. shadows vyhieh. throng sharply upon hi? heels in these climes, left the horizon in course baxe to opr most searching gaze. \Ye then shortened sail, qnd under eqsy vye put °ur helm a lee, anfl afcobfl northward on a bowline until ‘ midnight, when we rounded in upon our weather-braces and steeped easterly, Captain Skevington suspecting that the Dutchman would make all haste to. refit and hqad south under some jury contrivance, in the expectation that as we were bound that way when he fell in with ua, so we should haul to our course afresh when we lost sight of him. Yet in the end we saw him no more, and what ship he was I never contrived to learn ; but certainly it was an extraordinary escape, though whether due to our shot, or to his foremast being rotten, or to some earlier wound during an engagement, must be left to conjee, ture. (To bo continued.]