ANOTHER VOYAGE IN THE "DUBLIN."

About three weeks after I left the "Dublin" a letter came on from Capt. Streeter, saying that the ship was going to load a cargo of tobacco and staves at Baltimore for Amsterdam, and asking me to go with him as second mate. I had almost hoped the offer would not come, for whenever the scenes of the last voyage had been recalled to my mind, in the midst of the delightful and elevated associations of home, I had shuddered as though the veil of a lower world had been drawn aside, and its enormities and fiendish spirit had been disclosed to me. I could scarcely summon courage to return to it, and I also felt that it might be my duty to avoid a sphere of such temptation and bad influences. On the other hand, I had scarcely enough confidence in my abilities to ship as second mate with a stranger, and felt from what I had seen and heard of other ships that there was a great uncertainty as to whether a change would be for the better, and this could only be proved by experience. With some misgivings I decided to go. I liked the owner so much, and was so pleased by the interest which he showed toward me, that I thought it desirable to keep in his employ, even though I found things were not just to my mind on board ship; and the owner's assurances that the captain would improve, relieved my apprehension a little, though I knew Capt. Streeter's smooth way of talking too well to place much dependence upon it. Still the captain was shrewd enough to know on which side his bread was buttered, and if the owner had told him as he said, that his remaining in the ship was dependent upon his good behavior, it was reasonable to suppose that his conduct might be influenced somewhat by this motive.

A week later witnessed my arrival on board the "Dublin." The captain seemed glad to see me, but Mr. Howard was not so cordial, and appeared very much under the weather.

"I tell you what it is," said he, as we walked forward together to have a chat, "I've been second mate of a ship a long time, but I never had a man treat me so like a dog as Capt. Streeter's done since we've been in port. He wanted the ship scrubbed around outside as soon as the copper got out of water; and a man offered to do it, and paint her beside, for ten dollars, when the regular price that other ships pay is twenty dollars. But the old man kicked up 'Bob's a dying,' and swore he wouldn't pay no such price; and then he gave me so many hints, and told me so many stories about what that cursed Mr. Jones of his used to do in port, that at last I offered to do it myself. So he hired a raft, and a boy to help me, and then I scrubbed the ship and painted her bends all round. I thought that would satisfy him, but as long as I had got my hand into dirty work, he thought he wouldn't let me take it out, and he had the face to tell me to go over the bow and coal-tar the bob-stays, and all the rest of the iron-work. I was just fool enough to do it, and he's kept me going ever since at jobs that any decent captain would hire a man to do; but it's about played out now. He's so mean he'd skin a louse for its hide and tallow; and his soul is so small you could punch the pith out of a horse-hair and put his soul inside, and then it would rattle if you shook it."

I did not try to soothe him very much, and rather hoped he wouldn't be soothed; for the prospect of his leaving the ship, which was suggested by the tenor of his remarks, was not at all unpleasant to me.

The next morning Mr. Howard had a talk with the captain in the cabin after breakfast, and then came out on deck to where I was standing and said: "Mr. A——, I'm going to leave the ship."

"Are you?" said I, greatly astonished but equally pleased. "What is that for?"

"Well, I'll tell you why. One thing is, I've got sick of the old man, and another is that I know I'm not competent to go mate of a ship, for I don't know no more about navigation than that windlass does, and the first time the old man got mad with me at sea, he'd heave it up in my face, for all he talks so fair now about it's not making any difference. But another thing I'll tell you, and I don't want you to get mad with me for saying it, for I never met a man on board of a ship that I liked any better than I do you; I don't think we can get along together. I'm bound to make the old shell-backs toe the mark, and if they don't do it I can't talk polite to 'em. I wasn't brought up to that business. But whenever I've had a row at sea you've hardly spoken to me for a week after. Now if I go in this ship again, I know we shall be at loggerheads all the time, and it's a bad job for officers of a ship if they can't sail alongside of each other. I've got a chance to go second mate of the ship "Robert Stanwood," and the mate's a man just like myself, and we can hitch horses. The fact is, I've too much respect for you to sail with you. You're too good a man to go to sea. It's a life only fit for a rascal, but if you're bound to go, I hope you'll get along well, and have a mate to your liking, though I think they are scarce fish in these waters."

I was certainly pleased at Mr. Howard's decision, but was much touched by his way of announcing it.

"I don't wonder that you want to leave, Mr. Howard," I replied; "but it would be more for your interest to stay, and if you make up your mind not to be quite so hard on sailors, I think we can get along pleasantly. You must remember it isn't the most important thing in a man's life to make sailors run the mile in less than three minutes, when a four-minute pace would be just as good for the ship and the owners. I believe in making sailors work and keep in their place, but I don't believe in giving up all one's good principles to do it, nor do I think it is necessary."

"Perhaps not; you and me has been brought up very different, and we must go our own way. I've got an ugly temper, I know; but it's there, and it's got to come out. When you've seen as much of sailors as I have, maybe you'll think the best way to deal with 'em is to knock 'em down."

Mr. Howard left the ship, much to the captain's sorrow; for he was a man after his own heart, and he hoped he had at last found officers that were willing to sail with him on a second voyage.

The ship leaked a good deal even in port, and by the captain's orders another man and myself had to pump her out, involving half an hour's work morning and night on a straight wooden pump handle. After the trouble we had on the last passage, I was astonished that new pumps had not been procured, and as I was in correspondence with the bookkeeper in the owner's office, in the course of a friendly letter I slipped in a word about the pumps. By return mail a letter came from the owner, telling the captain to get the best pumps that could be obtained. He told me this without suspicion of my agency in the matter, but remarked: "The owner is very ready to say get this or that, but when the bills come in he would find fault about the heavy disbursements." The ship went to sea without them and I felt very loth to go in her, for the only explanation that occurred to me was, that the captain wanted to get the ship into a port of distress, and have an underwriter's job, which would give him a chance to enrich his pockets with percentages.

The person, who came to undertake the mate's duties for the voyage, was a young man of twenty-five years, named Wright, a native of Baltimore. He had received a liberal share of his education in the streets, and was familiar with the peculiarities of "Blood-tubs" and "Plug-uglies." But besides these questionable accomplishments he possessed a tall, manly form, a handsome, expressive face, and a clear eye, which, while it impressed one with its determination, also implied a nature that despised meanness. His manners were quite gentlemanly, and after a short intercourse with him I felt convinced that he was superior in natural gifts to any man I had yet sailed with; and I was much pleased with the change of mates.

The ship had loaded a full cargo of Maryland tobacco, which comes in smaller casks than the Virginia, though still of good size, weighing upwards of nine hundred pounds. Several thousand staves had also been stowed away, to fill up all the spare room, and the ship's stores and water having been taken on board, she was ready for sea, and accordingly received the crew, and proceeded down the Chesapeake towards the sea.

The crew, as usual upon the commencement of a voyage, were for the most part under the influence of liquor. The mate was very reserved in talking about sailors, and told no fighting stories, which I thought must be evidence that he was a peaceable man, and as they came over the rail and staggered into the forecastle, he had remarked to me; "We'll have 'em all straight in a day or two. I don't like a drunken row, and we must shut our eyes to some things the first day."

He carried out these precepts, except upon finding a young Irishman sitting on his chest in the forecastle while all the other sailors were at work, when the answer that was given to the order to come out on deck was the brandishing of a sheath-knife and the declaration that he wasn't going to work "on board the bloody hooker." The mate settled this question by snatching away the knife, hauling the man on deck, and hitting him two or three cracks with a belaying pin, and the captain seeing it showed some signs of reform by shouting: "That'll do, Mr. Wright, that'll do till we get outside."

Leaving the pilot off the Capes of Virginia, the voyage was fairly begun, with a fresh S.W. wind, which increasing to a strong breeze blew after us for seven days, and took us half way across the Atlantic.

I now stood watch alone for the first time, and it seemed a tremendous responsibility to be left in charge of the ship on a dark, squally night. How a person could become so unconcerned as to fall asleep, as I knew Mr. Howard had sometimes done, was more than I could understand. I found a great difference between a second and third mate's position. When I was in the latter, I had only to obey orders and see to the execution of work designed by my superiors. But now I had to decide upon such matters for myself, and it sometimes set me at my wits' ends to find work to keep my eight men constantly employed, particularly in wet weather when sails and rigging could not be worked on. It had seemed easy enough when third mate, for whenever at a loss I could fall back on the mate for a job. But now when the watches were changed the mate would start me with some work and going below would leave me to get along as well as I could.

It is customary, as a general thing, for the mate to take special charge of the foremast and jib-boom, and the second mate of the mainmast and mizzen-mast, as far as keeping them in order is concerned. But the mate keeps the general supervision of the work, and the second mate would not make any changes of consequence without the mate's approval. This obliges him to resort to small jobs to keep his men employed when more extensive work fails, and they are apt to be of the character denominated "humbugging" by sailors, and of which the exponent is sawing wood with a hammer. It must be admitted that a great deal of work is done on board ship, which will hardly bear the test of necessity. But the men must be constantly employed, and if other things fail the chain-cable will always have rust enough on it to admit of cleaning, as a last resort; and if some who wonder "what they find to do on board ship," could have spent a day in one of the flash California clippers of a few years' ago, they would have seen a large crew busied not only in the day-time, but through the night, scraping eye-bolts and iron belaying-pins till they shone like silver, smoothing off the paint work by rubbing with stones, scraping other parts bright, as also the masts and yards, and wearing away the deck with holystones, as well as the more legitimate work of making and taking in sail, bracing yards and repairing sails and rigging.

The rule of labor in such vessels is comprised in the sailor's "Philadelphia Catechism:"

"Six days thou shalt labor and do all thou art able; and on the seventh, holystone the decks and pound the cable."

I found, too, that it was rather harder to get along with the sailors. Having entire control of my watch I took much more interest in their performance of work, and any laziness or stupidity excited my pugnacity in the like greater proportion.

The crew, with two or three exceptions, were a poor set of men; not particularly ugly in disposition, but ignorant, thick-headed and lazy, and very trying to an officer's temper.

The captain behaved wonderfully well, and seemed so sincerely endeavoring to restrain his usual sea indulgences, that I had no regret at my decision in making the voyage.

The mate got along rather quietly, and proved himself to be a very efficient officer; and there was something in his calm, decided bearing which gave the captain great confidence in him, and also kept him somewhat from his customary interference with mate's duties. He bestowed pretty liberal attention on the second mate's affairs, however, and used to make me understand sometimes what Mr. Morrison had endured the previous voyage.

The mate was not harsh with the sailors, and carried on his work with very little noise, giving ordinary orders in a mild tone. But still he was strict, and the men had to move at a lively pace and be wide awake; and sometimes when they failed to do this, he did not resist the temptation of sending a curse and a belaying-pin after them, or perhaps giving them a touch of a rope's end. There was nothing, however, like Mr. Howard's abuse of men, and if a sailor did come in for a rap, he was pretty sure to be in the wrong. His relations to me were very pleasant. When relieving each other at night, if no work was going on, we had a short chat, or the mate told some little yarn about the Liverpool packet trade, which he had sailed in a good deal.

There was no third mate this voyage, so we had to depend on each other for sociability.

Though it was the month of August the weather was blustering and changeable. The S.W. wind which had favored us so well gave place to northerly and easterly winds, with unsettled and squally weather. At times nearly all sail would be set to a steady breeze, when suddenly the black, threatening clouds would spring up from the horizon, and with only a few minutes' warning, spread over the sky, bursting upon the ship in a furious gust, while all hands would be at work clewing up and hauling down the slatting, booming and rustling sails; and officers and sailors increased the noise by what would seem to a landsman a perfect Babel of harsh orders and shrill cries.

Those are the times that try officers' souls, and the times that test the sailors' merit. In fine weather a little laziness or ignorance may perhaps be borne patiently, but in a squall there is no forgiveness for a man who "hangs back," or "doesn't know what he's about."

In the confusion attending these squalls some of the sailors seemed to forget what little they knew, and were frequently letting go the wrong ropes or running everywhere except to the place where they were wanted. The captain's good resolutions succumbed to this pressure so far as to allow his tongue to regain its old fluency at cursing; the mate was pretty active both in words and deeds; and as for the second mate, he used to bite his lips pretty hard to keep his tongue quiet.

There was an old sailor on board who had greatly attracted my interest, partly owing to the circumstances attending his coming on this voyage, and partly because of his good nature and willingness to work as well as his feeble energies would permit. He was now fifty-two years old, and a confirmed drunkard. The day after leaving Baltimore he came to the steward, as he was about going into the galley with a pan of dough, and asked him if he knew where the ship was bound to.

"Certainly," said the steward, "don't you?"

He shook his head, and the steward told him: "We're going to Amsterdam."

Old Harry's story was this: He was the son of a clergyman in Virginia, and when quite young had run away to sea. He fell into bad habits which prevented his rising in his profession, and for years he had been drifting about, sometimes in the navy, and again in merchant vessels. Though he had occasionally returned to his friends, his appetite for strong drink had always overcome his good resolutions, and he had long ago been given up as a hopeless case. He had a brother in Norfolk, well to do, who, after several unsuccessful efforts of late years to find traces of Harry, had discovered his last voyage. Upon the arrival of the ship at Baltimore he had sent him a sum of money to defray his expenses home, and offered to give him a shelter and support him for the rest of his days. Old Harry was glad enough to accept this offer, for he was now quite broken down in health, and in his sober hours at sea had many anxious thoughts as to what would become of him in the future. But he could not resist the inclination for another good drink before he started, and his next sensible moment found him removed from the den in Baltimore, where he had been carousing, to the forecastle, out of sight of land, and with only fifteen cents in his pocket. These he offered to the steward for a glass of whiskey, with most imploring tones, but failed to obtain it. He had a touch of delirium tremens, and after getting rid of the devils who, he fancied, were tormenting him, he was in a most thoughtful and penitent mood.

A twenty-two days' passage brought the ship into the English Channel. Passing through the Straits of Dover into the North Sea, the wind hauled to the northward and increased to a fresh gale. The topsails were double-reefed, and the ship slowly forged ahead, though making some leeway, causing the captain to feel anxious about the lee shore, which was in sight not far distant.

The Dutch pilots usually cruise about Dungeness, at the entrance of the Straits, but not happening to run across one, Capt. Streeter was in too much of a hurry to wait, and so kept on. Now he became very anxious to procure one, and being off Antwerp he ordered he me to set the "Jack" at the fore royal-mast-head as a signal for a pilot. I gave the signal halyards to one of the men, and told him to lay aloft and reeve them at the fore. The man slowly climbed up the rigging, but when he got to the royal-mast his courage gave out. The ship was lying over very much and jumping heavily in the sharp sea, so that it was a matter of difficulty to hold on, and much more so to shin up the long mast-head. I cheered the man on, who made two or three unsuccessful attempts to reach the truck, but after ascending a short distance invariably slid back to the eyes of the rigging. Another man was now sent up to help him, or do the work for him, and I travelled aloft also to drive them up. But both men were thoroughly frightened; so much so that I feared they might lose their hold altogether, and I did not like to force them at this risk, so at last I took the halyards myself and soon was at the mast-head. Just at this moment Capt. Streeter came out of the cabin and walked forward to see if his order had been executed. There he beheld his second mate at the fore truck, and two sailors in the cross-trees looking at him performing their work. This was rather opposed to his idea of things, so he armed himself with the long unused cat, which had been out of service since the negro-boys escaped from its tutelage, and when the men reached the deck he gave them each a good flogging; and when I appeared he said to me: "If I ever see you do sailors' work again for them, I'll treat you in the same way."

But the flag did not bring the pilot, though the wind moderated enough to quiet the captain's fears of the lee-shore. Laying off and on during the night, in the morning the spires and windmills of Holland appeared rising out of the sea before the land was visible. A pilot boat came along side and a rosy-cheeked little Dutchman clambered over the rail. In his short sailor's jacket he looked like an overgrown boy; but he proved himself a good pilot, by bringing the ship into the Zuyder Zee and then entering her in the canal at New Diep, the port of Amsterdam.

Vessels formerly sailed up the Zuyder Zee to Amsterdam, but were often detained two or three weeks for water enough to carry them over a certain bank. The enterprising merchants, to obviate this delay, dug a canal fifty miles long, from Amsterdam to New Diep, making it wide enough for two frigates to pass abreast, and the ships are drawn through this to the city in about eighteen hours; or, if preferred, they can discharge at New Diep into canal-boats, which convey the cargo to the city. Another deeper and shorter canal has been made since then.

Capt. Streeter chose the latter plan and speedily got to work at discharging the tobacco and staves. With two men I worked in the hold, breaking out and slinging the cargo, and the rest on deck, at the tackle, hoisted it out.

Though the ship lay alongside the quay, the captain refused permission to any of the sailors to go on shore in the evening, saying all they wanted was to get drunk, and the sailors not relishing this restriction, and thinking they had done enough hard work on board the "Dublin," took leave of absence on their own account, and for awhile every morning found two of the crew missing, until only three or four were left.

In a fortnight the ship was all discharged and ballasted, the captain went to the city, settled his freight and cleared for Cronstadt. I had to curb my love of sight-seeing, as my duties would not allow me to visit the city. In New Diep I saw the Dutch people, the women with their gold bands hung across their foreheads, and metal head-dresses ending in front in two little cullenders holding curls, and the men with their pipes, even the minsters walking to church on Sunday smoking.

The clean swept pavement and the white walled houses with their red tiled roofs confirmed the reputation of that people for order and cleanliness.

The captain upon returning to the vessel shipped some men, and put to sea, having a final "growl" at the captain of the steamboat that towed him out, bestowed upon him rather because he was the last Dutchman he should see for a while, than because of any special fault in the person. But he had to take Capt. Streeter's opinion of his countrymen, and to say the least they were not very flattering to his national pride. "Slower than real estate in Chelsea;" "don't know enough to go into the house when it rains;" "put two ideas in their heads and they'd bu'st," were a few of the favorite phrases made to apply to the subject under consideration, as many times before they had been applied by Capt. Streeter to such unfortunate people as came into the world outside of the limits of "free and enlightened America."

In three days we rounded the north of Denmark and squared away through the Cattegat with a fresh north-west wind. Before we reached Elsinore we had a change of wind to the southward, and were all day beating up the roads, where we anchored at dark. The next morning we started, with a fleet of one hundred and fifty vessels, to beat into the Baltic. All hands were on deck, and we tacked every fifteen minutes. As the Dublin was flying light, and most of the fleet were coal-laden, she soon distanced them all, and at sunset we weathered Falsterbo and squared away up the Baltic.

After leaving New Diep, a change came over the captain; the restraint which he had seemed to impose upon his passions during this voyage, vanished, and he acted as though intent upon making up for lost time, and relieving himself of an accumulation of malice and profanity. In a head wind or calm he would throw his hat on deck and jump on it, pouring forth abundant curses, and once even went so far as to shake his fist aloft and swear at "Him who made the calm." The sailors shook their heads and remarked to each other that the old man wasn't helping things much, and in the forecastle they told stories about ships being becalmed until the crew starved, or until the grass grew so long on her bottom that it took root at the bottom of the sea and held her fast when at last a breeze came.

The crew behaved pretty well, were very civil and prompt in obeying orders, and proved themselves good "sailor men" withal.

After the captain had about exhausted his vocabulary on the calm, he felt the need of something or person else to vent his spite upon; and as the crew, who usually received these attentions, hardly gave the excuse in this case, he very suddenly turned upon the second mate, watched me every moment, and criticised every act that could be in any way twisted so as to bear it.

He had always appeared more friendly to me than to any one else, and this sudden change took everyone by surprise. It could hardly be accounted for except by supposing it to be the expression of his displeasure at my failure to develop into an officer after his own heart.

It was soon evident that he had returned to the worst phase of his last voyage. I, of all others, had occasion to notice it, for the captain's peculiar attentions were bestowed upon me. His piercing eye was fastened upon me during the greater part of the day, and often in the night he crept stealthily on deck in hope of discovering some neglect of duty, but always found me awake, and the yards and sails trimmed as they should be, unless it happened that he came out within a few moments of a little change of wind, and on one or two such occasions he declared it had been so for half an hour, and taunted me with inattention, or threw out a hint that he suspected me of having been asleep—the greatest fault an officer can be guilty of. His principal reason for the latter suspicion on one occasion was that he had a dream about wild horses, which never occurred except when an officer was asleep. He had proved it several times, and never knew it to fail. Mr. Jones never went to sleep but once on deck, and that time the captain woke up in the midst of this dream and caught him.

These things were very galling, but I was able to avoid any disrespectful response, until one morning his taunts were heaped upon me beyond endurance, and I had to answer back.

My watch came on deck at 8 A.M., and the captain told me to take a pull of the main tack. He stood superintending the work as usual, and as we hauled on the rope he shouted out what were supposed to be encouraging orders: "Haul, you wicked rascals." "Lay out your beef on it;—bend your backs to it; you wouldn't haul a mackerel off a gridiron!" Finally, upon his calling out: "Haul away!" I understood him to say "belay," and giving that order to the men the rope was made fast.

"How dare you belay a rope when I'm looking out for it?" shouted the captain in a rage.

"I thought you ordered me to," said I.

This was an unfortunate speech, as Capt. Streeter had a decided animosity to anyone's using the word thought.

"What business have you got to think, I'd like to know," he replied. "You didn't ship for that. I'll make you know your place. I'm the only man that's allowed to think aboard of this ship. You'll try to take charge, if I let you keep on with your airs a little longer. You swing about the decks now as though the ship belonged to you."

These phrases and several others were rattled off, one after the other, and interlarded plentifully with oaths. Meanwhile I and the whole watch stood gazing in wonder at the captain, scarcely knowing what to make of this great ado about nothing. He walked aft a few steps and turned to watch my movements as I set the men at work. The mate was standing by the main hatch, and he told me to let one of my watch sew some canvas on the foot of the mainsail, and directed me to let him sit in the bight of a main buntline while he worked at it. I started the man at his job exactly as the mate wished, but as the man caught hold of the buntline to swing himself up to the desired position, the captain burst out upon me again:

"What kind of back-handed work is that? Why don't you lower the man down in a bo's'n's chair? I believe if you got two ideas in your head it would bu'st. I'd like to know what is the matter with you?"

"The matter is," said I, "that I've always been treated decently till I came here, and I'm not used to be cursed about and snarled at as if I was a loblolly boy. Because I'm good natured you're trying to impose on me, but I can't stand everything."

"If you say another word I'll knock your head off," said Capt. Streeter, shaking his huge fist in my face. "Don't undertake to dictate to me what kind of talk I use. I'd swear if the owner and God Almighty were here." Then he said: "No! I won't fight you, if you were a man of my size I would, but I'll treat you like a boy that's beneath my notice that way. But after this I'll keep you in your place. Go set your men to work, and mind you behave yourself."

That day Capt. Streeter paced the deck a good deal, evidently in deep thought, and in the evening after supper he called me into the cabin.

"Mr. A——" said he, "do you know that a man who has had any education can give a slur that'll hurt a good deal more than another man can. Now, I feel one word from you more than I do a dozen from any one else, and I feel hurt at the way you spoke to me this morning."

"I've always tried to be respectful to you, sir," I replied, "and I think I've been more so than any body else would have been, because I've been anxious that no one should think I put on any airs on account of your familiarity with me. For the last week you've done nothing but snarl at me and pick upon me. I know, of course, that I'm at fault sometimes, but not as much as you try to make out."

"You can't expect a sea captain to be as mild as a parson all the time," said Capt. Streeter. "You must make allowances. If I'm not quite perfect I want you to respect me as your captain!"

"I always mean to respect you as my captain; but, if you'll allow me to speak the plain truth, it's impossible to respect you as a man, and I'm not always able to conceal my private feelings."

"If you can't respect me as a man, I want you to as your captain," said Capt. Streeter, biting his lips and looking as though he had received a slur that cut pretty deep. "That'll do."

Capt. Streeter felt that the account stood rather against him, and took continual opportunities to annoy me, and occasionally repeated the sentence which closed his cabin conference, showing that my remark had taken strong hold upon him.

The night before we reached Cronstadt I had a good talk with the captain, and he came to the conclusion he had better turn his attentions to somebody else, and we gradually got to better terms with each other.

In Cronstadt we discharged ballast and loaded a cargo of iron and hemp. The crew were called every morning at half past four, which of course was not very agreeable, and one morning an Irish sailor growled so much about it, the mate went into the forecastle and struck him two or three blows with his brass knuckles. A half hour afterwards the mate picked up a handspike and struck him a blow across the stomach, and after breakfast he told the captain of it, and the man was called aft and severely beaten on the back with the end of the main clew-garnet, a good sized rope. No more complaints were made about early rising. The mate had a row with another sailor one day, and receiving some insolence, threw a heavy piece of wood at his head, which fortunately missed its mark. The man was so frightened that he deserted that night with one of his shipmates.

The ship was loaded so deeply and was leaking so much, and moreover had such wretched pumps, that many misgivings were expressed as to her ever crossing the Atlantic safely. The superstitious among the crew were still more disaffected when two Finnish sailors came on board, for a Finn is believed to have dealings with the evil one, and to be a dangerous shipmate. We sailed for Boston one September morning, and beat down the Gulf of Finland. The crew that were shipped at New Diep were to get fifteen dollars a month, but wages were higher in Cronstadt, and the two Finnish sailors had shipped for twenty dollars. They had signed articles to that effect, drawn up by the American Consul. This grieved the captain's economic soul, and the day after we sailed, he called one of the Finns into the cabin and summoned me for a witness. He told the man that if he didn't prove to be a first-class, able seaman, he should cut his wages down to ten dollars a month; but, if he would sign the articles that the rest of the crew were on, and accept fifteen dollars, he would say nothing about his seamanship. The man was confident of his ability, and had every appearance of a thorough seaman. He understood English imperfectly, and was somewhat bewildered by this proposition, but he realized it was a scheme to defraud him of five dollars a month, and he respectfully declined to sign the new articles, saying, he had signed once before the consul and that was his bargain. After a little useless argument, the captain rose and shut the cabin door; then he caught the man by the neck with his left hand, and gave him a blow with his right fist that knocked him down. He jumped on his chest two or three times with his whole weight; and then kneeling on top of him pounded his face severely. The man cried out for mercy and promised to sign. He was then helped to the table and wrote his name on the fifteen dollar articles. The other Finn was at the wheel at the time, and whether he heard anything of what was going on or not, he seemed to lose his head just then, and ran the ship off her course. The mate, perceiving it, struck him and put another man in his place. He was just coming forward as the captain and his shipmate stepped out of the cabin. The bruised face of his comrade startled him, and when the captain told him to go into the cabin he refused, supposing he was going to be beaten for his bad steering. The captain, without further words, seized a belaying pin from the rail and hit him a powerful blow on the head, which cut a deep gash on the side of his forehead, and in a moment his face was one mass of blood. The steward and myself carried him into the cabin, by his head and heels, and seating him on a stool in a state-room, bound up his broken head with strips of sail cloth in lieu of rags. The captain brought a pen to him and told him to write his name on the old articles.

"What ish dis?" he asked.

"Do as you're told," said the captain, and the man signed.

The captain then put a pair of handcuffs on the man's wrists, though he was as quiet as possible, and he was left to meditate on the privileges of sailing under that symbol of freedom and justice, the American flag.