CHASING THE DEAD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 41

CHASING THE DEAD.

At 11 o'clock in the forenoon the breeze died quite away and left the big ship lazily rising and falling on the ground swell of the South Atlantic. At noon the captain and mate took their observations, and half an hour later it was written on the log that our position was 400 miles south-west of Tristan d'Acunh&lsland. Between 11 and 12 a man aloft reported what he believed to be a small boat under sail to the north-east. When the glass was sent up to him he made her out to be a ship's quarter-boat with sail set and heading down for us. Although there was not wind enough to move us, the little fabric was shoved along slowly, and soon after the men had eaten their dinner the craft was in sight from the deck. A ship's boat at sea means that disaster has happened, and sympathy is at once aroused. The cook was ordered to have an extra dinner ready, the steward received a bottle of wine, to be served ont if necessary, and some of the men went into the deckhouse to overhaul their chests and bags and see what they could spare in the way of clothing. The boat came down within a mile of us, and then seemed to stand still. Before this it had been made out that she carried only one person, or at least only one person was in sight. By the aid of the glass it could be seen that he was a coalblack negro. He sat in tbe stern-sheets stiff and erect, with a yoke line in either hand, and, though he had his face towards us, he made no signal and exhibited no impatience when his boat seemed to drift . It was this which awed and mystified us. He must be a castaway, and though he might have plenty of food and water he would nevertheless exhibit some signs of joy at being picked up on the wide expanse. When an hour had passed away the surface of the sea became wrinkled here and there with catspaws. These puffs made lanes and curious figures, and though not strong enough to flap one of our jibs they caught tbe quarter-boat and moved her all around the compass. The man in the sternsbeets let her go as she would, though we fired a gun, waved a flag, and raised a shout to attract his attention. By-and-bye, when it was seen that the calm would wear out the sun and that the strange craft would come no nearer, the order was given to lower away a boat and pick him up. We pulled four oars and bad the second mate in command, and on getting away headed at once for the derelict. We bad pulled half the distance when the stranger got a catspaw and ran away at a lively pace for half a mile. We preserved our stroke and got within half a cable's length of her, when another puff struck her sail, and she ran to the south across the bows of our ship. We could plainly make out the face and figure of the negro. He was barefooted and bareheaded, and his clothing consisted of a red woollen shirt and a pair of dungaree trousers. He sat as stiff as a soldier, never turning his head to the right or left, and though the mate stood up and shouted at him he appeared not to see or hear anytbing. We had come up within 200 ft of the boat, which had lost her way again, when a puff from the south whirled her about and sent her driving at us as if she would run as down. We backed water to get out of her course, and as she came past one of the men dropped his oar and caught her with the boat-hook. While he held her thus the mate stepped into her and started aft, but he had not taken three steps when he stopped, threw up his hands, and exclaimed : " Why, men, it's a dead man we've been chasing around 1 Look at him 1 He's been as dead as a marlinspike for the last week 1 " The man' 3 eyes were wide open, his jaw down, and it was his clutch on the yoke lines which held the body erect. There was no food, no water, not even an oar or a baler in the boat. In place of a name, it bore the initials " 8.W.5." There was nothing to tell us where it had been launched or bow long it had been afloat — whether the dead man was the last of a crew or had suffered hunger and thirst alone. We shoved his boat away and 1 rowed back to the Bhip, and an hour later be was out of eight to the south. What mattered it whether we gave the body to the huge sharks cruising about or let it continue to steer its coffin over the wide waste till some howling gale prepared a grave at the bottom of the sea I—New1 — New York Sun.