Part 44 (2/2)
”Poor children!” sighed Mr. Agneau, as he patted the little girl on the head; and his own eyes were dim with the tears he shed for others' woes.
Captain Greely told his story very briefly. His s.h.i.+p was the Sylvia, thirty days out of Liverpool, bound to New York. She had encountered a heavy gale a week before, in which she had badly sprung her mainmast.
Finding it impossible to lay her to under the foresail, they had been compelled to set the main-topsail, reefed; but even this was too much for the weak mast, and it had gone by the board, carrying the second mate and five men with it. The Sylvia was old, and the captain acknowledged that she was hardly sea-worthy. She became unmanageable, and the foremast had been cut away to ease off the strain upon her. Her seams opened, and she was making more water than could be controlled with the pumps. For eighteen hours, all hands, even including the two women, had labored incessantly at the pumps and the buckets, to keep the s.h.i.+p afloat. They were utterly worn out when they discovered the Young America, were on the point of abandoning their efforts in despair, and taking to the boats, in which most of them would probably have perished.
After the boats started from the Young America, Mr. Lowington had ordered the cooks to prepare a meal for the people from the wreck; and as soon as they came on board, coffee and tea, beefsteaks, fried potatoes, and hot biscuit were in readiness for them. Tables were spread in the main cabin and in the steerage, and the exhausted guests, providentially sent to this bountiful board, were cordially invited to partake. They had eaten nothing but hard bread since the gale came on, and they were in condition to appreciate the substantial fare set before them.
By the forethought of Captain Greely, the clothing of the women and children had been thrown into one of the boats. The bundle was opened, and its contents dried at the galley fire. The doctor and the chaplain gave up their state room to the captain, his wife and children, while Mr. Lowington extended a similar courtesy to the other woman, who was Mrs. Greely's sister. Mr. Fluxion was the first to offer his berth to the mate of the Sylvia, which was reluctantly accepted; and all the professors were zealous to sacrifice their own comfort to the wants of the wrecked visitors.
In the steerage, every boy, without an exception, wanted to give up his berth to one of the seamen from the Sylvia; but the privilege was claimed by the adult forward officers, the cooks, and stewards. The princ.i.p.al was finally obliged to decide between them: and for obvious reasons, he directed that the guests should occupy the quarters of the men, rather than of the boys. The people from the Sylvia needed rest and nourishment more than anything else. They were warmed, and fed, and dried, and then permitted to sleep off the fatigues of their severe exertion.
At three o'clock, though they had slept but an hour or two, most of the s.h.i.+pwrecked people appeared at divine service, for this was a privilege which they had long been denied, and it would be strange, at such a time, if the hearts of those who had been saved from the angry flood were not overflowing with grat.i.tude to G.o.d for his mercy to them. Mr.
Agneau, whose sensitive nature had been keenly touched by the events of the day, made a proper use of the occasion, delivering a very effective address to the students and to the s.h.i.+pwrecked voyagers, who formed his little congregation.
The next morning the wind came up fresh and warm from the southward, knocking down the heavy sea, and giving a delightful day to those on board the s.h.i.+p. The pa.s.sengers appeared on deck, and were greatly interested in the Young America and her juvenile crew. Captain Greely's son and daughter were little lions, of the first cla.s.s, among the boys.
All hands vied with each other in their efforts to do something for the guests of the s.h.i.+p, and it really seemed as though the era of good feeling had dawned upon them. Even Shuffles and Pelham forgot, for a time, the interests of the Chain League, and joined with others in petting the children of the wreck, and in laboring for the happiness of the involuntary guests.
On this day, observations for lat.i.tude and longitude were obtained, and at noon the s.h.i.+p was found to be in lat.i.tude 42, 37', 5” N.; longitude 64, 39', 52” W. The position of the s.h.i.+p was marked on the chart by the masters, in council a.s.sembled, and the calculations made for the course.
Bowditch's Navigator, an indispensable work to the seaman, was consulted frequently both for the rules and the nautical tables it contains. The course, after allowing for the variation of the compa.s.s, was found to be north-east by east, which, agreeing with the calculations of Mr.
Fluxion, was given out to the quartermaster conning the wheel.
The wind continued to blow fresh from the south and south-west during the rest of the day and the succeeding night; and the log-slate showed ten and eleven knots until midnight, when the wind hauled round to the westward, and soon came strong from that quarter. At noon on Tuesday, April 5, the Young America had made two hundred and forty-four miles during the preceding twenty-four hours, which was the best run she had had during the voyage.
On the afternoon of this day, a s.h.i.+p, bound to the westward, was seen, and Captain Greely expressed a desire to be put on board of her, with his family, as he did not wish to return to the point from which he had just come. The Young America bore down upon the sail, and spoke her at sundown. Her captain was willing to take the s.h.i.+pwrecked voyagers on board his s.h.i.+p, which was bound to New York, and they were transferred in the barge and gig. Captain Greely and his party were very grateful for the attentions they had received; and the little boy and girl almost rebelled at the idea of leaving their new and partial friends.
As the two s.h.i.+ps were filling away, after the transfer of the pa.s.sengers, the seamen of the New York s.h.i.+p, having learned what the Young America was, gave three cheers, and dipped her ensign in compliment to her. All the young tars were immediately ordered into the rigging by Captain Gordon, and ”three times three” were most l.u.s.tily given. The American flag at her peak was lowered three times, in reply to the salute of the stranger. As the Academy s.h.i.+p stood off on her course, the two children of Captain Greely were seen, on the p.o.o.p-deck of the other vessel, waving their handkerchiefs; and they continued to do so as long as they could be seen.
The departure of the guests had a saddening effect upon the crew of the Young America, as they missed the children and the ladies very much; for, during their presence on board, the s.h.i.+p had a.s.sumed quite a domestic aspect, and all the idlers on deck found pleasing companions in the little boy and girl.
The limits of this volume do not permit a full detail of the entire voyage across the ocean. Enough has been given to show the discipline of the s.h.i.+p, and the daily life of the boys on board of her. For the next ten days the weather was generally favorable, and she laid her course all the time. Some days she made two hundred miles, and others less than one hundred.
On the sixteenth day from her departure, she was in lat.i.tude 51, 4', 28” N.; longitude 31, 10', 2” W.; course, E. by N. In going from Cape Race, the southern point of Newfoundland, to Cape Clear, the southern point of Ireland, the Young America did not lay a straight course, as it would appear when drawn on a map or chart. La Roch.e.l.le, on the western coast of France, and Cape Race are nearly on the same parallel of lat.i.tude, and the former is exactly east of the latter. But the parallel on which both points lie would not be the shortest line between them. A great circle, extending entirely around the earth in the broadest part, going through both, would not coincide with the parallel, but would run to the north of it a considerable distance at a point half way between the two places, the separation diminis.h.i.+ng each way till the great circle crosses the parallel at Cape Race and La Roch.e.l.le. The shortest course between the two points, therefore, would be the arc of the great circle lying between them. A skilful navigator would find and follow this track. This is called great circle sailing.
The Young America followed a great circle from Cape Race to Cape Clear.
Off the former point, her course was two points north of east; off the latter, it was half a point south of east. On her twentieth day out she sailed due east.
After the excitement of the wreck and the departure of the pa.s.sengers, Shuffles and his confederates resumed their operations in the Chain League, a.s.sisted somewhat by a case of discipline which occurred at this time. When the s.h.i.+p was sixteen days out the Chain consisted of thirty-one links, in the cabalistic language of the conspirators, and Shuffles was in favor of striking the blow.
CHAPTER XVII.
PEAS AND BEANS.
The business of the Chain had been managed with extreme caution by the conspirators, and more than one third of the crew had been initiated without the knowledge of the princ.i.p.al and professors, or of the officers and seamen who were not members. Pelham and Shuffles ordered the affairs of the League, and no ”link” was allowed to approach an outsider for the purpose of inducing him to join without the consent of one of these worthies.
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