VOYAGE OF THE "DUBLIN."—(Concluded.)

Genova la superba is renowned for its palaces, but, as seen from the harbor, the buildings of the city, apart from their grand and picturesque location, do not inspire one with much admiration.

After a visit on shore to the palaces and churches I was so charmed with what I had seen, that I was seized with an intense desire to see more of the renowned wonders of Italy, and I proposed to Mr. Morrison a plan for visiting Rome, and asked him what he thought of it?

"I don't see why you can't go, if you want to spend your money in that way," said Mr. Morrison. "The cargo is all discharged, and we've got to wait two or three weeks for our marble, so I think you can be spared as well as not. The only thing is to get on the right side of the old man, and you seem to understand that pretty well."

The next day with some fear and trembling I made my proposition to the captain, and excited the breeze I quite expected.

"I thought something of that sort would be coming soon," he said. "I believe nobody cares a curse for the ship except myself. I like to see my officers take an interest in their vessel, but I suppose it's of no use to hope for it. I was mate of a ship once for two years without setting foot on shore but once, and that was when I was sued for breaking an old shellback's head and had to go to court. I never knew Mr. Jones to ask for liberty all the time he was with me. He was a man who took pride in his ship."

"I am sure I feel an interest in the ship," said I, "but I've often heard you say yourself that going to sea is a dog's life, and I don't see why a man should be blamed for getting clear of it when he can do so without occasioning any disadvantage; and in this case I am sure I shall not be missed much, for Mr. Howard and Mr. Morrison both say they can get along without me."

"How long should you want to be gone?" asked the captain.

"About a fortnight, sir."

"Well, I'll give you a week's liberty. You may start next Monday morning, and be on board again the Monday after."

"But that wouldn't give me time to visit Rome," said I.

"I don't care where you go to, but that's all the time you can have," answered the captain.

The next day I went to the Consul, and got him to procure a passport from the minister at Turin, and on the day appointed by the captain I procured tickets through to Rome, although I found the steamers did not connect at Leghorn and I should have to remain there three days. But this would give me time to go to Florence; I also knew the captain's only motive in limiting me to a week was the usual one of discipline, and I felt no hesitation at transgressing a little, if the question to be decided was whether I should see Rome or not.

I went to the captain with my through tickets and told him that I should not be able to return in time. He relented a little and said: "Well, get back as soon as you can."

I took this last remark for my instructions and starting on my journey, visited Leghorn, Pisa, Florence and Rome, spending eight days in the Eternal City, and rushing about over its ruins and through its galleries in a way that astonished the more deliberate travellers whom I met. On the seventeenth day I again entered the harbor of Genoa, in the morning, and being a little in dread of an explosion of the captain's wrath I used my knowledge of his character to concoct a little plan for shielding myself. It worked admirably.

I had made the acquaintance on board the steamer of a gentleman, the U.S. Consul at Venice, and I invited him to go on board the "Dublin" with me and take breakfast, assuring him of a cordial welcome from Capt. Streeter.

I walked into the cabin and found the captain seated there. "Good morning, sir," said I.

"Oh! you young blackguard," the captain broke forth, and pausing here one second as he noticed the stranger in uniform who had followed, I seized the chance to say, "This is the American Consul at Venice, sir."

"Ah! how do you do, sir; I'm very glad to see you, sir. Welcome on board the 'Dublin;' take a chair, sir," and in the profusion of his attention to the consul the captain quite forgot the "blessing" he had been hoarding up for poor me during the past week, and when he at last had time to hear my story, he only said, "I thought you'd come back with some old sailor excuse."

I felt I had earned my visit to Rome at a cheap rate after all, and was highly pleased at this finale. The trip made a good hole in my earnings and at the end of a six months' voyage I found myself in debt to the vessel.

The ship was now taking in marble in blocks, weighing from three to five tons each. These were hoisted on board from the lighters by a large "pontoon," which had a great pair of shears and immense tackle at one end, and at the other a wheel and axle to heave with. The blocks came up slowly, sometimes two or three at a time, one hanging below the other, and as they swung over the ship and were lowered down the hatchway, they were watched with almost breathless silence lest something should give away and let them go down through the bottom. But the five hundred tons were taken on board safely, and then the ship filled up with bales of rags, cases of olive oil and boxes of maccaroni.

Capt. Streeter managed to pick a quarrel with almost every man in port that he had dealings with. He always seemed to act on the supposition that those he dealt with were trying to cheat him, and was not at all backward about telling them so. The consequence was that he was always in hot water, had a lawsuit with the consignee of his cargo, and got the reputation, as far as I could ascertain from those who had business with him, of being either a fool or a liar, or both.

But after all he was a shrewd man, and the result of his bullying and lying was, that his owners had a moderate disbursement account, and he thought that would cover a multitude of sins.

His special antagonist on shore was a Mr. Pasamotti, and having a great inaptitude for getting hold of names, he used to amuse me sometimes at night by relating his grievances during the day, and giving vent to invectives against "Mr. Smashempotter."

There were a few American vessels in port. Every evening visits were exchanged among the ships, and each officer became informed of the exact character of every ship, whether she was a "wild boat," "workhouse," or "good ship;" and of every captain, whether he was a "hard ticket," "fool," "skin-flint," or "gentleman."

There were three or four regular visitants to the "Dublin." The mate of the "Eagle" came with long yarns about his captain's daughter, a romping lassie, who had a flirtation underway with five different captains, all supposed to be bachelors. The second mate of the "Example" had curious tales of the means his captain was using to make the crew desert the ship; and others brought stories of meanness, tyranny, or debauchery, which made one blush for the honor of his profession and nationality; while on the other hand, we sometimes were favored with commendations of captains in the highest terms.

"What was that man doing hanging in a bow-line over the side of your ship, to-day and yesterday?" asked our mate of Mr. Winthrop, the second mate of the "Example," as several of us were seated on the poop-deck of the "Dublin" one evening, while the captain was on shore.

"What! did you notice him?"

"Yes;" said Mr. Morrison, "I'm no friend to sailors, but I think it's a shame to hang a fellow out all day long in that way."

"When he's got a broken back, too, eh?" said Mr. Winthrop.

"A broken back!"

"Something of the sort. But I'll tell you all about it. We've been away from home now about nine months, and the sailors get fourteen dollars a month, so they've got near a hundred dollars due them. Sailors are plenty here now, and wages are only twelve dollars. Our ship can't get a freight at present. I don't know how true it is, but one of our consignee's clerks told me that last time our old man was here, he cheated his broker out of a commission; and this same man is now doing all he can to prevent the ship from chartering. He gives bad reports about the seaworthiness of the ship, I believe; but it's a lie if he does, for she's as able a craft as there is in these waters; I don't care where the next comes from. When the old man found he'd got to stay here some time, he wanted to get rid of his crew, but the consul wouldn't let him pay them off, unless he gave them three month's extra wages, and he thought it would be a nice thing if he could make them run away, and put a thousand dollars or so in his own pocket, or his owner's, I don't know which. So about a month ago he began to work them up. He made us cockbill the lower and topsail-yards, and then the sailors had to scrub them with a piece of canvas and a bucketful of salt water, beginning at the lower yard-arm and scrubbing above them all the time as they crawled up. The water of course ran down on them, and six of them he made us keep soaking and steaming for about a week. This made most of 'em sick, and Saturday night four of 'em came to the old man and told him if he'd give them ten dollars apiece, they'd go ashore. This he did, and made four hundred dollars out of the operation; and I tell you what, if ever men earned their wages those fellows have done it since they've been aboard of that packet, for they've been worked like jackasses day and night.

"The next week we drove five more out of the ship by hard work and poor grub. The old man was greatly tickled by his good luck, and he thought if he could get rid of one more he'd let the rest stay, because he thought the ship might get too bad a name if every one left.

"The fellow he picked out was an English chap, and he told us to "keep him going." One evening, after we had knocked off work and put on the hatches, I sent him down in the 'tween decks to see if there wasn't a stray broom left down there; and it being dark and the 'tween deck-hatches off, the chap walked right down the main hatch and fell on the stone ballast in the hold. We heard him singing out blue-murder, and got the hatches off and hauled him up on deck in a bow-line. He said his back was broken; but I guess it was only badly bruised. When the old man got aboard, and we told him of it, he tore round as though there was something to pay and no pitch hot. The man wanted to go to the hospital; but the captain didn't relish giving him his pay and three month's extra, so he let him lie in the forecastle a week and have his back rubbed with soap-liniment. But the man swore there was some bone out of place in his back; and the captain got mad and told the mate yesterday morning to sling the fellow in a bow-line, and make him scrub the copper all round the ship outside. I wish you could have been aboard to hear the rest of the fun, for the mate stepped up to him and said:

"'Capt. Murphy, I've done enough of your dirty work; if you want that job done you had better ship a new mate to do it.'

"The old man cursed him a few, I tell you, but the mate stood his ground, and at last the captain told him to go to an unpleasant locality.

"I've been there the last nine months," said the mate, "and got enough of it; so if you please, I'll take my wages and leave."

"You don't say your mate left?"

"Yes; the old man tried to pay him off aboard ship, but the mate said he wasn't going to be put down on the articles as a deserter, and he made him pay him off at the Consul's with two months' extra for himself and one for the Consul. I guess the old man won't smile again for two weeks."

"How about the sailor?"

"Oh, I got orders to do what the mate had refused, and I wasn't too high-toned to do it, seeing I want to get put in mate. I pitied the fellow, though I don't believe he's as much hurt as he tries to make out. At knock-off time to-night the old man happened to be aboard and the sailor came aft and said he was willing to go ashore, so the old man gave him a few dollars and he cleared. We've only got six men aboard now, just enough to keep her in good order."

"We got clear of sixteen men out of our ship at Singapore," said the mate of the "Tempest." "The whole starboard-watch left one night bag and baggage and not one of us knew it aft till morning. We kept 'em holystoning and scraping from dawn to dark, and licked 'em about every other day on an average. They left about ninety dollars a piece, I believe; at any rate I heard the old man say he had made $1500 by the operation."

"There's been a law passed lately," said Mr. Morrison, "which I suppose is meant to put a stop to this driving sailors out of ships. When a man deserts and leaves any wages due him, they have to be handed over to the government when the vessel arrives home, that is, after taking out enough to pay any extra expense the ship has been put to in getting other men. The wise heads in Congress thought that if they could prevent captains from making any money by it, they would have no inducement to run their crews ashore."

"But they weren't smart enough," said the mate of the "Tempest." "They might have known that if a man is rascal enough to rob sailors in that way, for that's just what it amounts to, he won't make any bones about telling a lie to save the stealings. Now our old man put down on the articles about seventy dollars paid to each man, and fifteen dollars expense incurred by the desertion, leaving about four or five dollars, which may be the Custom House will get."

"It seems rather hard," said Mr. Morrison, "that a ship shouldn't have the benefit of what wages a runaway sailor leaves behind him. No matter how well sailors are treated, some will almost always desert, just on account of their love of change, and often will leave a little money due them."

"I expect it is hard for the captains to make up their minds to pay it," said the mate of the "Tempest." "But sailors don't often run away from a good ship, when they have much money due them, except when they want to go to the gold mines, or some such thing. I've seen as much of this driving men out of ships as most men a-going, and done a good deal of it myself too, but I must say I think it's a shame, and the sailors need some protection such as this law means to give, and I'm not sure but this will come as near to doing it as anything can, except abolishing the three months' pay law, which is the greatest cause of sailors being driven ashore."

Another evening three or four mates came visiting, and the burden of our conversation was lady passengers.

"It is always bad luck," said one, "to have either a woman or a minister aboard. I never knew it to fail yet. It is either a long passage, or getting dismasted, or short of provisions, or there's a terrible row in the camp. It's bad enough to carry one woman, as the 'Eagle' is going to do, but when it comes to taking four or five of them and two missionaries beside, as the 'Tempest' does it's the very mischief. I don't believe she'll ever reach port."

"You're an old owl," said the mate of the "Tempest." "There's no better luck that can happen to a ship than to have a lady on board, mind I say a lady. As to missionaries, I've nothing to say, for I never sailed with any yet, but I stand up for the women. I'd be willing to go for five dollars a month less wages for the sake of being in a ship that carried them."

"Tell us your reasons," said Mr. Howard, "before you expect us to believe you. What good is there in having a woman on board? I don't believe there's any bad luck in it, nor do I see why you should be quite so enthusiastic about it."

"I'll tell you my reasons. I've a great opinion of woman's influence in keeping the edge on men's good manners and principles. A crowd of men shut up together on a long voyage are continually degenerating into barbarism. They need some restraint on their selfishness, and a curb to their brutal natures. A woman's presence in some measure supplies this. The captain feels bound to respect her, if there's anything of the man about him, and he's careful how he swears or uses bad language. The officers take their cue from the old man, and they're not as rough with the crew, and the sailors in their turn feel the influence and keep on their good behavior when they're around aft; it puts Jack in good humor to see calico fluttering, and ribbons flying in the breeze, for I believe every true sailor is at heart a ladies' man, though he may not have much grace in displaying it. The man at the wheel keeps his weather-eye lifting when she comes on deck to take an airing, and has both his ears unbuttoned to catch any of her words, and when he gets into the forecastle he says: 'Boys, what do you think the old woman said this morning,' and then there's a long argument about it all dinner time, whereas if they didn't have that to talk about, they'd be growling about the ship, the work and their grub. The good influence has begun already in our ship just from knowing ladies are coming."

"How's that," said the mate of the "Example."

"Why, my second mate is a great eye-servant. He's as mild as a kitten when the old man's out of the ship, and doesn't care whether school keeps or not; but just as soon as the cap'n gets hold of the man-ropes to come up the side, he begins cursing and heaving belaying pins. The old man steps over the rail and says to the captain that has come on board with him, as they go into the cabin: 'That's the boy to take care of 'em. He makes 'em toe the mark.' Last evening the cap'n came aboard after knock-off time, when the men were at supper, but the 'shocking dickey' wanted to shew off, so he went to the starboard forecastle door, and began raving at somebody about leaving a marline-spike at the main fife-rail. The cap'n heard him as he came over the gangway and sung out: 'There, that'll do Mr. Brown; we've got to knock off all such talk as that—we're going to have lady passengers.' I've sailed with the old man three years, and that's the first time ever I heard him find fault with bad language. So I think I've proved my case, haven't I?"

"Yes," said Mr. Howard, "you're a good champion for the ladies. You'd do to present their cause before a meeting of shipowners."

"If it's such a good thing for a ship to carry women, why is it that shipowners are so down on it, and they so seldom allow captains to carry their wives?" asked the mate of the bark "Vulture."

"One reason," said Mr. Morrison, "is the extra expense; it costs something to feed them on a long voyage, and they must have more dainties. Another is that they sometimes cause detention to the ship or occasion a deviation from the voyage. There was a ship belonging to a Boston firm that I used to sail for, that was kept waiting in Calcutta for a week after she was loaded, on account of the captain becoming a happy father. When the news came home, one of the partners handed the letter over to the other, and said, 'What do you think of that?' 'Think,' said he; 'I think we won't make baby-houses of our ships any more.' They made the rule, and after that captains had the choice to leave their wives at home, or leave the employ."

"It's a hard place for a woman on board of a ship any way," croaked the "owl" again. "It isn't natural for them to be shut up for months with a crowd of rough 'barnacle backs,' without any of their sex to gossip with, and no chance to go a-shopping, except two or three times a year."

"A ship is a hard place for anyone," said I. "Going to sea is an unnatural life and a hardship to everybody. It's pretty clear from the Bible how its Maker regards it, for there it is frequently used as a symbol of evil. 'The wicked are like the troubled sea,' and 'raging waves of the sea;' 'he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea;' the beast of Revelation is represented as rising out of the sea, and we read in the description of the perfect state 'there was no more sea.' It is not good enough to be allowed in heaven. But in spite of all its trials and unpleasant features we all like to go to sea."

"Vast heaving there, my friend," said the mate of the "Example." "I don't like to go to sea, and I never saw a man yet that would own up to liking it."

"We must be judged by our actions, not by our words," said I. "Sea life gets people into such a way of 'growling' that they never know when to stop finding fault; and if you ask them about any of their circumstances they'll generally give an unfavorable account of them. But after you've been growling about sea life for a whole voyage, you'll get on shore, and in three weeks' time you'll be fretting to be afloat again, and if you don't find a ship pretty soon, you'll growl worse even than you did at sea. But I'll meet you half way and say we prefer to go to sea, in spite of its hardships. Against these we have the offset of seeing foreign countries, the excitement of constant change of place, and the great pleasure of arrivals at home. Now, although what was said about the women may have some truth in it, yet a woman, who loves her husband, may consider his company more than an equivalent for the privations of life on shipboard; and then, in foreign ports she's always made a good deal of, and gets a chance to see everything that's to be seen, and enjoy all the pleasures of foreign life, so that when you compare her life for a year's voyage, with the hum-drum existence she would lead by herself in a small country town; fretting about her good man every time the wind blew hard, being the only excitement she would have in the whole time he was away, and I tell you the seafaring woman has the best of it."

"Pretty well argued," said Mr. Morrison, "for a youngster that knows nothing about it."

After two months in port the ship was again ready for sea; and after a parting growl with Mr. Smashempotter, the captain came on board with orders to get under way. With a fresh southerly wind we sailed into the Bay, and the City of Genoa disappeared astern, just as the sun went down behind the Apennines.

Moderate breezes and pleasant weather brought the ship again in sight of Gibraltar ten days after leaving port, and then a calm took possession of the Straits, and the ship lay helpless at the entrance, slowly drifting back with the current.

During this time Capt. Streeter had been remarkably pleasant. He spun long twisters to the second mate and myself, chiefly about his experiences in fighting sailors, and even made advances towards favoring Mr. Morrison in the same way; but was not very successful in this attempt, for whenever the mate detected a lie or misstatement in the captain's narrations, and this was not seldom, he always felt it his duty to contradict it, whereas we appeared to accept everything as gospel. Nothing provoked the captain so much as to have his veracity or knowledge questioned, and this course of the mate's threatened to bring on a relapse of the captain's "tantrums."

Toward the close of the day on which we had sighted Gibraltar, a breeze set in from the westward, dead ahead. By nightfall we got abreast of the harbor, and all through the night we made short tacks across the Straits, only to find ourselves in the same place in the morning; and in the next few hours we rather lost ground, as the current gained strength with the increasing breeze. So the captain abandoned the useless attempt, and came into the harbor of Gibraltar and anchored.

The harbor is on the west side of the rock, and is protected by a sea-wall. On all other sides the rock ascends bare and steep from the sea-level, but to the westward it presents a pleasant slope, and on this is the town of Gibraltar with 16,000 inhabitants, besides a garrison of soldiers; a narrow sandy isthmus connects the rock with the continent.

The next day I had to go ashore with the captain to get some blacksmith's work done for the ship, and found a chance to take a hasty glance at the place, and was surprised to find so much verdure, upon what I had imagined was wholly a barren rock; but to the south of the town is a very attractive esplanade. On the north side I stood within a stone's throw of the base of the rock, and looking aloft, saw it towering above me in almost a straight wall of 1400 feet. Through port-holes near the top, the black muzzles of cannon pointed to seaward from the excavated galleries in the rock.

Capt. Streeter was told there was no chance for an easterly wind for the next fortnight, and he must make up his mind to stop contentedly until he saw the rock "put on it's night-cap," as they style the cloud that hangs over it, as the certain precursor of a "Levanter."

The prophets and signs failed this time, and the next morning a strong easterly breeze was blowing, and getting under way, the ship passed through the Straits under reefed topsails, and was once more in the Atlantic.

The ship was bound to Baltimore, and the direct course would have been nearly west, but as westerly winds prevail in that latitude, the longest way around was the shortest way home, and the ship was headed to the S.W. in order to take advantage of the N.E. trades.

We passed between the Canary Islands, enjoying their verdure and bold mountain scenery, and saw the volcanic Peak of Teneriffe lifting its head above the clouds, 12,000 feet from the ocean. Then with moderate trades we ran down to lat. 22° N., and kept along to the westward, having beautiful weather, but rather lighter winds than the captain expected.

The short detention at Gibraltar seemed to break up the captain's good mood, and Mr. Morrison's provocation soon brought him back to his former role of "sea-devil."

The ship had carried sand-ballast on a former voyage and the "limbers" not having been properly cleaned out, whenever the ship rolled heavily, the sand washed to the pumps. As they were old-fashioned wooden affairs they had not power enough to raise it, and it settled on the lower boxes and choked the pumps. The vessel leaked a good deal and we spent considerable time drawing the boxes with the pump hook, which sometimes it was difficult to work through a foot or more of sand. Then we had to hoist the pump on deck and ram out the box with an iron rod. The captain prided himself on his skill in hooking the pump box, and whenever he heard the warning sounds, he invariably came on deck, mounted the fife-rail and took charge of operations. His patience would soon be exhausted if not successful, and then his profanity was really awful. Every conceivable phrase of bad language was summoned to express his petulance, and once, when baffled for a long time by the sanded box, he rattled off a string of twenty-three words which haunt my memory as the worst utterance I have ever heard.

In the fine weather of the trades the old suit of sails was bent, as the captain said, "She must have on her old clothes to tar down in."

The mainsail was bent one afternoon, and in the inevitable inspection and criticism which followed, the captain informed Mr. Morrison that the bunt-lines were clinched into the foot of the sail the wrong way.

"How so, sir?" said the mate.

"Why, they ought to be rove from forward aft," said he.

"I don't think so, sir," answered the mate; "they ought to be rove from aft forward."

"But look at the philosophy of the thing," said the captain; "don't you see there'd be more chafe on the sail your way?"

"No sir, I don't," said the mate; "the philosophy is all the other way. They've been bent after your fashion before, and the sail we've just taken down is about chafed through in the wake of the clinches."

"I've heard the thing argued by intelligent men and they all agreed with me," said the captain.

"If you want to have it done your way of course you can have it," answered the mate, "but it's wrong, and no intelligent man ever said differently."

The captain, during this conversation gradually worked himself into a furious passion, but there was something in Mr. Morrison's demeanor which always kept him from giving the vent to his rage, as he did with every one else, and after the conversation had been continued a while longer in a similar strain to the above, he quietly turned away and walked towards the cabin, but as he passed me he muttered in an audible tone, "I've never been insulted before in my life, as I have been by that man."

He worked off some of his spleen that evening by exercising the boys with the watch-tackle, and giving them a bountiful allowance of his favorite prescription, "rope yarn tea."

But he did not get back into his pleasant mood very soon, and he snarled at and picked on the officers and made them ugly, and they relieved their wrath by growling at the crew, and the men in their turn got cross, and pretty soon all hands and the cook were in hot water. There was a great deal of work going on, and if any of Mr. Morrison's men blundered they were very apt to get a rope's-ending, and if Mr. Howard's men were at fault, and sometimes when they were not, they had to dodge their heads for a belaying pin or stick of wood.

Sailors, if they ever chew tobacco, always use it when steering, and some can do without it at all other times, but must have a "chew" at the wheel. One of Capt. Streeter's rules was that every man who used tobacco should clean out the spittoon, when he went away from the wheel. One forenoon the helmsman said to me: "The man that I relieved didn't clean out the spit-box, sir." He called attention to it from fear of being taken to task for it himself. I asked who it was, and was told it was Jake. I was about to call him out on deck to do the job, when the captain who was standing near and heard what had been said, called to me and said: "Let Mr. Howard regulate his own watch. Give him a call and tell him about it."

The second mate had just gone to sleep, having had eight hours on deck the previous night, and when I waked him up, and gave him the captain's message, he was not in very good humor. He understood in a moment what the order meant, and stepping out on deck he saw the captain standing by the weather mizzen-rigging, and so went forward to the weather forecastle door. As he passed the galley he picked up a stick of the cook's oak fire-wood, and holding it in his hand called for Jake. Jake turned out promptly and came to the door to see what was wanted, and just as he stepped on deck, Mr. Howard charged him with the neglect. Before he had a chance to reply he aimed a blow at his head with the stick of wood. Jake warded it off with his arm and acting on the defensive was driven aft by the second mate, who aimed blow after blow at him, which the man succeeded in avoiding or throwing off. He was driven aft in this way until he reached the cabin.

A sailor in going aft on the quarter-deck is always required to take the lee side, and as Jake, rather against his will it is true, was thus transgressing rules, the captain took the opportunity to come to Mr. Howard's assistance, and drawing a belaying pin from the rail he stepped forward and said to Jake: "How dare you come aft on the weather side of my quarter-deck," finishing his remark by a gesture, which brought the belaying pin down on Jake's head with great force. Being now between two fires, he was unable to defend himself, and had to take a good pounding before he was released to perform the neglected work.

In the middle watch that night Mr. Howard was sitting on the rail leaning against the boat's davit, and he fell asleep. Jake perceived his condition, and vowing to one of the men he would push him overboard, started towards him to do it. The other man sprang after him and held him back, and in the little struggle that ensued the second mate was awakened, and sung out to them to "stop that skylarking." For some time after this Jake was punished by being ordered never to walk on deck, but always to move at a run; and it became a rather ludicrous sight to witness Jake's half-gallop, as he careered around about his duties.

Great efforts were made to have the ship look well. The rigging was set up, rattled down and tarred, the ship was painted, and every morning the crew were exercised at holystoning the deck. To do this the men knelt down, sprinkled sand and water on the deck, and then rubbed the holystones to and fro to wear the deck smooth and white. The stones that were used in this ship were of the shape of a brick, only somewhat larger.

One morning this work was going on, and the second mate found one of his men had disappeared. He picked up his holystone and went in search of him. Just as he got to the forecastle door the man, a young sailor called Dan, was just coming out on deck with a plug of tobacco in his hand.

"What are you doing in there?" said Mr. Howard.

"I've been to get a chew of tobacco, sir," said Dan.

The second mate gave him a few rounds of curses, and then struck him over the forehead with the holystone, which flew into pieces, breaking in the middle from the force of the blow. Dan's head was not much the worse for it though, and he went back to his work apparently unharmed.

The captain came on deck soon after, and while overseeing the work as usual, he spied the broken stone.

"How did that stone get broken?" he asked of Mr. Howard.

"I just broke it over that nigger's head, sir."

"Did you, really? He must have a tough head. What was it for?"

"Because he left his work and went into the forecastle," said Mr. Howard.

"That's right. Keep 'em up to the work; don't take a word from 'em, or if one of 'em dares give you a black look, just pick up the cook's axe and split his skull open!"

All this was said in a loud tone for the benefit of the men, and the second mate was so much encouraged by this endorsement, that the same day he broke a deck-bucket against another sailor's head, who gave him a "black look," and as a boy was coiling up a rope in a larger coil than he fancied, he sang out to him:

"What sort of a way is that to coil up a rope," and hurled an iron belaying-pin at him with all his might. It missed its mark and made a deep scar in the wood-work of the forward house. If the captain did not value his sailors' heads very much, the same imputation did not apply to his buckets or the appearance of the ship; and this last occurrence was so manifestly unjust, and resulted moreover in such an injury to the house, that it brought the second mate a mild rebuke from the captain, who told him he ought to be careful or he'd kill somebody. He seemed to forget that splitting skulls open with the cook's axe might probably lead to that result.

All these affairs, which are but samples of many others, made the mate and myself still more unfriendly to Mr. Howard, and scarcely any conversation passed between us. But the captain seeing this coolness, befriended Howard all the more in private, though one night when all hands were on deck, he got so furious at the mate's neglect to answer his orders, that he hauled off his coat and offered to fight the second mate, greatly to Howard's bewilderment, who thought it was rather poor business to do all the "captain's dirty work" for him and then get paid with the abuse, which belonged to the mate, but which the captain was afraid to give him.

Howard's cruelty and cowardice culminated in an act which even the captain had to condemn. One of the two boys was named Taylor, and had formerly been a servant in the house of a well-known senator in Washington. If not one of the brightest boys in the world, he was one of the most well disposed, and though he had felt the captain's "cat" on his back pretty often, nothing seemed to interfere with his good nature. It was he who called the captain when Jake was attacking the second mate.

One evening at clearing-up time, Taylor was sent aft on the poop with a broom to sweep the deck down. But after sweeping a little while, he rested his broom against the house, and commenced making some motions for the benefit of the man at the wheel, which seemed to tickle him very much. Just then the captain happened to look around the corner of the house, and spying master Taylor's proceedings, he put an end to the fun by shouting:

"You imp, what are you doing there?"

"Nothing, sir," said Taylor, beginning to move his broom very assiduously.

"If that's what you call nothing, I'll teach you not to do nothing again!" and taking him by the neck he hauled him along to where the cat was hanging at the front of the cabin, and taking it down, gave Taylor's back such a dressing as it had not received that voyage. He was amply punished, to say the least, but not enough to suit Mr. Howard, who followed the boy forward, and getting him forward of the foremast said to him:

"What did I send you aft for?"

"To sweep the deck, sir," answered Taylor.

"Yes; so I did," said Mr. Howard, "and instead of doing it you must go to skylarking with the man at the wheel. The 'old man' has licked you for fooling on the poop, and now I owe you something for not doing what I told you to."

Without further words he struck Taylor on the face with a belaying-pin, and followed it up with several blows in the same place. The boy's shrieks brought the mate forward; but by the time he had reached the spot, the damage was done, and the boy lay fainting upon the fore-hatch with his face covered with blood.

The worthy mate, as soon as he comprehended the matter, burst out with some expressions more forcible than elegant, and said to the second mate:

"Mr. Howard, there's nothing of the man about you. You're a disgrace to the very name of a man. An officer that would treat a boy like that ought to be keel-hauled."

The second mate sneaked away aft, leaving the mate to take care of the boy.

The next day the captain missed Taylor from the deck, and hearing that he had laid up, sent for him. He appeared with his face so swollen and discolored that no one could have recognized him. Capt. Streeter was quite shocked by the case, and gave him proper lotions from the medicine-chest. He took a private opportunity to tell Mr. Howard that he had been rather too severe this time; but avoided any public reproach of him, not wishing to give any further encouragement to Mr. Morrison's hostility.

In all this time I was getting along pretty well. The crew had fighting enough from the other officers to keep them in respectful awe of "the powers that be" without much need of my using my fists against them, though the captain kept up his system of alternate persecutions and insinuating stories, all designed to make me such an officer as he thought I ought to be.

The mate was treated with all the contempt that the captain dared to show him, and his naturally irritable temper was by no means soothed by this feature of his situation. I sometimes had good proof of this by receiving a snappish rebuke for some fault or omission detected by the mate's keen eyes. But apart from a momentary exasperation, this had no great effect on my spirits, for I accepted such occurrences as the inevitable portion of a third mate, and was only thankful that my share was no larger than it was.

As for actual pleasure in the course of my duties, that was something I had learned not to expect on board the "Dublin." The sole idea of the ship as the captain endeavored to direct it, was work, work, and every job, whether of putting on a seizing or sweeping the deck, was to be done with the interest and thoroughness which would attend a matter of life or death. Nothing that was ship's duty could be called trivial, and if a shaving took refuge under a spare spar, escaping the boy's broom, it demanded as great an outcry as one would suppose belonged to one, who had scuttled the ship. In fact it generally received it, for if the shaving escaped the officer's eye, it was pretty sure to meet the captain's glance, for he was very particular after clearing-up time to search for something, which would give him opportunity to find fault with his officers, and show them they had not done their duty.

The second mate and I had a room in the starboard side of the after house, opening out upon the deck. The weather being warm, I usually left the door open when I turned in, and one morning at about five o'clock I was awakened by a tremendous string of oaths, uttered by the captain in a very loud tone just in front of my room. "That shows the ambition of my officers," said he. "Nothing can be done unless I see to it myself. I believe if I should keep in my room one day the ship would go clear to destruction," (only he used a more explicit name,) and he went on with mingled curses and denunciations about the ambition of his officers, in a way that made me tremble. The occasion of this display, I learned, was the falling of a bundle of salt-fish from underneath one of the boats, and it happened that I had sent a man the evening before to see that it was well secured, as there was an appearance of more wind coming during the night. Being before the wind, the ship rolled a good deal, and the salt-fish fetched away in spite of the sailor's effort at securing it. There was no damage done to the fish, but it showed to the captain's mind that his officers had no ambition, and he made use of it to let off the cross feelings which mates know as a general thing attend a captain's getting up in the morning, and seem to be a sort of morning bitters—an appetizer for his cup of coffee. All these things gave me a vivid impression of the meaning of the phrase "eternal vigilance;" for no matter how hard I tried or closely watched, every little while there would be discovered some job which a sailor had slighted, or a gasket would get adrift on a yard while I was busied with work which required my whole attention, and the captain, who had nothing else to do but look for such things, would happen to spy it, and then would begin his taunting, aggravating remarks: "Nobody sees anything, but me. I don't know what they'd do without the old man," and so on, in a way that sometimes goaded me almost beyond endurance. When the captain saw this effect, in the next leisure moment he would have a yarn to spin or a word about home to soothe me again, for he seemed quite concerned about my ultimate impressions of my captain.

I philosophized over all this and comforted myself with the reflection that it was good training for me to be under such strict surveillance, and then I fell back upon the memory of pleasures which had been the result of this voyage, my travels in Italy; and often in the night-watch, I sought refuge from my intense broodings over the captain's tyranny and harshness, by standing, in imagination, by the Coliseum or under the dome of St. Peter's, or in gazing with memory's eye upon the almost living figures of Raphael and Guido, or the statues of the Vatican. The whistling of the wind recalled to me the beautiful echoes of the Baptistry of Pisa, and the inclining masts, its leaning tower; or, in more sober moods I remembered my sensations as I stood by the tombs of Galileo, Michael Angelo and Dante at Florence.

After passing the longitude of Bermuda the course was shaped more to the northward, and losing the trades, southerly winds and variables took their place, and helped the good ship along still further. A few days more would end the voyage, and I hoped the disagreeable features of it might prove to be already ended.

There was an old negro on board called Jenkings, who was nearly sixty years of age. He had been to sea a good part of his life, but was now not much more of a sailor than when he first started. Being in the mate's watch, poor Jenkings was hauled over the coals every day for some bad job or mistake; and the mate had expended more words upon him than upon any two men in the crew.

The captain was very fond of calling Jenkings to him and giving him an errand at the other end of the ship, telling him to run as fast as he could, and the captain stood and laughed at his movements; for his feeble legs made strange work of it, and though they moved up and down pretty often, made a slow business of forging ahead. One day, while watching these movements, he remarked to me, as I was sitting on the deck near him, strapping a block: "A man would be a wretch that would strike that old thing." And I remembered it as evidence that the captain had some tender mercies with regard to sailors after all.

The mate never went farther with him than to pull his white beard, or tie him up in the rigging by his thumbs. But it was very hard for him to do anything to the mate's satisfaction; and every day Mr. Morrison's shrill tones and Scotch accent were bestowed most liberally upon old Jenkings, who always received his rebukes in perfect silence, but with his thick, pouting lips stuck out beyond their usual great prominence.

In crossing the Gulf Stream we found unsettled weather, as is apt to be the case in the region of this wonderful current, and were busied in taking in or setting sail, as occasion required. The captain had given orders in the afternoon to set the cro' jack; and having just had a dispute with the mate, he went into the cabin in a cross mood, to get out of the way while the sail was being set. When the work was about finished, he was just stepping out of the cabin, as I sung out to old Jenkings, who was on top of the house: "Let go that buntline; what are you hauling it taut for?"

"Aye, aye, sir," was the response, uttered in rather a testy voice.

Capt. Streeter was just shutting the cabin door at this time, and did it with a force that expressed his temper, and this prevented the "sir" from reaching his ears. He sprang to windward, and seeing me standing by the mizzen-rigging, called to me: "Get up on the house and knock that old nigger's head off!"

I stared at him in amazement, wondering if he had gone crazy.

"Get up there," he repeated, "and give him a rope's-end over his back. Don't take an insult from anybody."

Instead of obeying his direction, I walked towards the captain and passed him without saying a word.

Capt. Streeter saw the work must come upon him if he wanted it done; and with a few bounds was on top of the house, and snatching a rope away from old Jenkings, that he was coiling up, gave him some vigorous blows over the back with the end of it. "Will you ever speak to one of my officers again without saying 'Sir?'" said the captain, as he paused a moment for breath.

"I always do, sir," answered Jenkings, who was wholly at a loss to understand what all this meant.

"You're a liar," said the captain, with a few more expressions peculiarly Capt. Streeter's, and gave him another flogging.

When he had finished, he turned and walked to the edge of the house and said: "Mr. A——, if you ever let a man say aye, aye, to you again, I'll serve you in the same way."

"No one ever said it to me since I've been aboard of this ship, sir," I replied.

"Yes, there has," said the captain. "This man just said it."

"You're mistaken, sir; he didn't," said I.

"You call me a liar, do you?" said Capt. Streeter, in a furious passion. "I'll teach you to know your place. I've treated you so well, you think you can take charge of the ship; but I'll let you know I'm captain of her yet." He continued with such a string of words that there was no chance to reply, and I walked forward to set the flying-jib, leaving him to talk to the mizzen-mast, which he did for some time after, to the edification of the man at the wheel, raving and cursing about white-livered officers, religion, sailors, and ending at last with an anathema on his own eyes.

Two days after, the water changed from its deep blue to green, and the deep sea lead found bottom at eighty fathoms. The wind died away as we approached the land, and we lay becalmed for some hours; but at last the ship began to move along, though there was scarcely a breath of wind to be felt on deck. I hove the log in a little while, and reported to the captain that the ship was going seven knots. He would not believe it, and told me to try it again; but the same result was shown, and having occasion to go aloft immediately after, I found a fresh breeze blowing there. The top-gallantsails and royals were pulling hard, and the topsails "stood" most of the time, but the "courses" were hanging up and down, without taking a breath of wind.

That night found the ship again in Chesapeake Bay, with a Baltimore pilot on board, having been fifty days on the passage from Genoa, and a little over five months and a half on the voyage.

It was now the beginning of June. The weather was mild and beautifully clear, and a pleasant westerly breeze enabled the ship to lay her course up the bay.

When the pilot comes on board, he is always supposed to take sole charge of the ship; but Capt. Streeter could not bear to think of any one superseding him, and so kept about deck, frequently giving orders about the sails or yards. The pilot was somewhat surprised by this conduct, but said nothing. In the morning, while he was walking on top of the house, the captain stepped out of the cabin, and seeing that the wind was a little free, called out in a loud, pompous tone: "Mr. Morrison, set the foretopmast studding-sail;" his manner implying that he would show the pilot he didn't allow his ship to go loafing along, when it could be helped. The pilot kept on with his walk, and the sailors rove off the gear, rigged out the boom, and hoisted the sail up. The captain promenaded about with a self-satisfied air, scarcely deigning to notice the pilot. But a minute after the sheet had been trimmed down and before the ropes were coiled up, the pilot altered the ship's course a little, and sang out: "Haul down that topmast studding-sail!"

The captain disappeared into the cabin very suddenly, and let the pilot take care of the ship afterward without any interference.

A calm set in in the afternoon, and we anchored off Point Lookout, at the mouth of the Potomac; but in the early hours of the morning, a breeze enabled us to get under way again, and meeting a steam-tug, the captain struck a bargain, and the little boat took us in tow and brought us by Fort McHenry into the harbor of Baltimore, just before the sun went down. As much as twenty miles below the city we met sailor boarding-house runners, cruising in their boats, but refused to allow them on board, and the refusal in each case called forth a volley of curses and the foulest language. When near the city a perfect swarm of boats had collected about the ship, hanging on to her channels or sailing along by her; and every little while some adventurous person would climb up the side and attempt to come on board, and if refused, as they always were, would use most insulting language. One fellow, who persistently took his stand in the main channels, and refused to get into his boat, was accosted by the captain with a belaying-pin; but he coolly drew out a revolver and threatened to blow the captain's brains out if he dared to touch him. The pilot cautioned the captain not to quarrel with these men, for they belonged to an organized gang of rowdies called "blood-tubs," and his life would not be safe on shore if he took any harsh measures with them.

I thought Capt. Streeter had attained to the highest perfection possible in the use of profane language, but these men quite equalled him, using epithets and comparisons, shewing that human ingenuity had been taxed to the utmost to invent new phrases and combinations of oaths.

After a good many threats of murdering the captain and officers when they caught them ashore, they one by one pulled in to the wharves and left the ship unmolested. The next day the "Dublin" hauled in to a wharf, at Fell's Point. The sailors had formed great plans for sueing the captain and second mate, and anticipated a sweet revenge in this way; but unfortunately they had arrived in a slave state, where a black man's testimony would not be taken in court, and where also a black sailor could not be discharged from his ship, unless some white man became his bondsman that he should leave the state within twenty-four hours. So there was nothing to do but postpone their revenge to the indefinite time, when they might catch them in New York or Boston.

A tailor, for the sake of their custom, entered into bonds for the men, and after making a pretty good bill out of each, shipped them by railroad to New York.

After the sailors were all settled with, Capt. Streeter called the mate into the cabin and said to him: "Mr. Morrison, I suppose you want to leave, since you've told me you're ashamed of the ship."

"I'm not ashamed of the ship, sir," answered the mate; "I'm only ashamed of the captain. I like the ship very much; I only wish she had a master worthy of her."

The captain brought about this conversation hoping that in their last interview he might have the advantage, and pour out on Mr. Morrison some of the hatred that had been boiling within him since they had quarrelled off Gibraltar. But the shrewd, sensible Scotchman was too much for him, and he saw that if he got Mr. Morrison's tongue into full course he should get a greater worsting than he had had during the voyage, so he said:

"Well, if you want to leave, hand in your bill. I've had talk enough with you."

"It's the captain's duty to hand in accounts," said the mate, "and I should like to have you do it."

Here he was cornered again; so he went into his room and got the "portage bill," and paid down the wages due him without another word.

The mate then packed up his things, bid me a hearty and feeling good-by, and as he drove away from the ship his handkerchief went up to his eyes to wipe away a few tears, which came in spite of his self-control, as he thought of the contrast between the high purpose and worthy determination to do his duty faithfully, which inspired him when he joined the ship, and the disappointment and hatred which marked the close of the voyage.

The mate being disposed of, to the captain's great relief, and a deeply muttered curse sent after him, Mr. Howard was summoned to his presence, and received the reward of all his subservience and brutality, by being asked to remain by the ship and go as mate the next voyage.

"I should like to go with you, sir," he answered, "for I like you better than any man I ever sailed with, but I don't know anything about navigation."

"That doesn't matter," said the captain. "I want Mr. A—— to go second mate, and he's a good navigator, and if anything happens to me, he could get the ship into port."

I was then called in and to my great surprise was asked to remain by the ship until she was discharged, and go next voyage as second mate.

"I'm much obliged to you, sir," I said; "but I don't think I should suit you very well, and I'm not sure that I shall go to sea again. I dare say I can find something to do on shore that I am better fitted for. I've been brought up to act as a gentleman, and an officer's life, as it is here, would force me to be a very different character."

"I've always told you, you know," said the captain, "that you've got to give up your nice notions if you go to sea. But you'll come to it in time. I'm not the worst man that goes to sea, and if you try to find a better one, you may jump from the frying-pan into the fire. If you're determined to leave, of course you can go. I never beg anybody to go with me, but give me your address, and by the time we're ready for sea again, I'll write to you and see if you haven't changed your mind. You may think better of it after you've been ashore a few weeks. I want you to understand there are plenty of second mates to be had, and good ones too, but I've taken an interest in you, and think I can make a good officer out of you, so for your own sake I'd like to have you go again."

I went home the next day. Mr. Morrison had preceded me by one day and had reported himself at the office of the owner, who received him very cordially, and, giving him a chair, told him he was very sorry he had left the ship so soon, and asked what was the reason. Mr. Morrison said to him:

"I left because I was not willing to sail with Capt. Streeter, and I consider no man with any respect for himself could sail with him a moment longer than was absolutely necessary. His knock-down principles, the language he used, and the example he set on board the 'Dublin' were such as would shock even a Water-street bully."

"Dear me, dear me," said the good man; "I'm sorry to hear that. I don't like to have such a man in my ship. I'll talk to him and tell him he must do differently if he wishes to stay in my employ. He never takes an officer a second voyage, and I expect something is wrong. I'll look into it."

Mr. Morrison went into no details, but merely said enough to excuse himself for leaving the ship, and having apparently satisfied the owner that there was no blame attaching to him for not remaining by the ship, he bade him good-morning.

When I got to the end of the story, the passenger gave a sigh of relief and said: "I'm glad I'm not on board the "Dublin." I think I prefer the Rocket."