THE 



3P1 

 AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY. MAY 31,1877- 



(No. Ill Fahou St., N. Y. 



JACK'S VISION. 



5HpWAS just fonr bells — it n 



■, it grieved me 

 waning slow, 

 watch below. 



My quid y 



The ted s nig 



Loud snored the 

 Out bark lay loafing on the SOW, 

 With not a lazy zephyr's breeze. 

 Twas stilly night, the sky was bright, 

 The sea gave back each starry light; 

 I stowed me snug beneath the rail, 

 And soon the stars grew wan and pale, 

 But scarce to doze had made decision, 

 Ere 1 beheid, in truth, a vision. 

 I stood beside my mammy's door, 

 As oft in boyish days of yore, 

 Ana scanu'it the prospect, hill and plain, 

 And yellow fields of waying grain; 

 The beach, the cove, the crescent bay. 

 Long Bridge and Trumbull's, granite gray. 

 'Twas morn— the dews lay freshly round, 

 The birds were up with merry sound; 

 The milkman's horn I heard afar, 

 Then, rattling round the square, his car. 

 Sweet Sue, in witching moruing dress, 

 Bat blithely milking brindled Bess: 

 And when I caught "her bonny ee," 

 Sue kissed her tiny hand to me. 

 While near and far each barn-yard crew 

 Bawled many a coek-a-doo-dle doo. 

 When lo I before my feasting ey es. 

 What johnny cakes and pumpkin pies ! 

 Fresh wheaten loaves that were not coarse, 

 And gravied steak that Shatn'd "old horse;" 

 Sweet Sue stood pouring out the batter, 

 The cakes were smoking on the platter; 

 The grace was long, I thought it queer, 

 For then my yarn just parted here 

 And left me— all my dream a wreck- 

 Dim gazing o'er the moonlit deck. 

 What should I see 1 Pray do not ask. 

 Slow rising from the "harness cask," ' . 

 Methought 'twas sure the steed of death, 

 For icy horrors froze my breath; 

 A ghostly goblin, lean and bare— 

 A ghastly bag of bones they were 1— 

 That rattled horridly and dread 

 Tis wondrous that I am not dead ! 

 More hideous demon, develish fright 

 Ne'er mocked a luckless mortal's sight; 

 Of purple scurvy's livid hne, 

 Exceeding ulcerous fetid dew; 

 Those pale, green eyes, blood-shot and sore: 

 I roared aloud, "All hands to prayers.'' 

 A horse's ghost, or elBe a mare's, 

 Broke stable door, wilh malice fell 

 TJp through the harness cask from hell. 

 What ! Jonah's son ! I'd like to know, 

 Hath waked its welcome watch below; 

 Thou demon fright, what brings thee here T 

 Alas ! alas 1 no good I fear, 

 Pray ope thy month, if goblin may, 

 And tell ns if the devil's to pay. 

 Then oped a mouth sepulchral foul, 

 With half a neigh, and half a howl, 

 It spake, I heard, I'd swear the rhyme 

 Beat Baalam's ass of olden time. 

 And thus the goblin said— if not, 

 I wish I may be hung or shot— 

 "Alas ! alas : like thee, I fear! 

 No good this night hath brought n 

 s this many a year. 



e here; 



O'e 



a hill i 



In dust arid thir 



nds' 



With kicks 



. MO 10 ..I II-. 



Xom salted 



lownfor sailor's fuse.. 



Atliumvh 



srness. hoofs and do,,.*. 



Sent off to 



sea for whaling crews; 



llorse-pow 



■ iJown m salt toke 



Fur busme 





Took from 



lie brine bvrarrv paws, 



Boiled in a 



"O Wi-iii hie- do ii I--. 



Served up - 



no soith in wooden tub. 



Then cans 



eued bv the inline o! "grub 

 e u with Ji-daln, 



The sailors 



Tnej take 



if up with grief] 'tis plain; 



The- look 





They fling 





Insult and 



blackguard to my face 



Curses and marline <piK.es were sued; 

 He fled wad hirieo.is muttering moans 

 Rattling h-.s scurvy purpled bones; 

 And where he went— who'll dare to as] 

 Heaven save us from the ■• Harness en 

 I've told the vision, every whit— 

 Perhaps nor inspired like liolv writ 

 Well told or ill —I sadly fear' 

 More truth than poetry is here. 



For Foi eat aft 



? 



J tljjithoon off the jnymwse %pknt. 



" Aud then the storm blast came, and he 

 SVae tyrannous and strong ; 

 He struck with his o'ertaktng wings, 

 Aud chased ns South along. 



" Wttn sloping masts and dipping prow— 

 As who pursued with yell and blow 

 Still treads the shadow of his foe 

 And forward bends his head- 

 The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, 

 And southward aye we fled." 



IT is said that every one born to live in this world has a 

 certain amount of hardship, suffering and trial to go 

 through before he or she can cast up their earthly account, 

 and were it not for the fact that our existence is frequently- 

 interlarded with some pretty bitter experience, life would 

 neither be happy nor enjoyable. 



Be this as it may, I fancy that there are many who would 

 willingly dispense with some of the incidents connected with 

 their career, could they but have a foretaste of that which 

 they are afterwards destined to pass through. 



In February, 1869, the writer, who was then at the newly 

 opened port of Hiogo, Japan, took passage on the steamer 31., 

 which was to sail for Yokohama on Monday evening, the — 

 inst. The weather which had been rainy and blustering all 

 the morning, in the afternoon increased in violence, and had 

 a portentious look foreboding nothing good, and which was 

 not at all lessened hy the fact that the native craft were 

 moored close in shore, and parallel to each other for safety's 

 sake, their grass hawsers creaking and groaning as they un- 

 easily rode each incoming swell. The M was anchored 



some two miles off the shore, and to reach her I was forced to 

 use a Yana-fun-e. belonging to the agents of the steamer, 

 which was propelled by four sendoea. As the mail bags had 

 been placed on board the boat and entrusted to my care, and 

 everything being in readiness, we pushed off from the hatoba, 

 with a heavy ground swell, toward the steamer, which was 

 pitching and rocking in the bay with steam already up. 

 About a mile from shore the wind increased, coming in fitful 

 gusts, while the sea, which was against us, made it hard work 

 for even the four stalwart Japanese scullers, who, stripped to 

 the buff, with every muscle strained to its utmost tension, 

 were apparently gaining but little headway toward the vessel. 

 I had started out with a thick overcoat, top boots, and was 

 warmly clad and comparatively comfortably ensconced in the 

 cabin of the boat upon a pile of mail bags, endeavoring to 

 take matters as philosophically as possible, and wondering 

 whether we should reach her before dark, as it was now 

 getting well on to six o'clock, and the days being short, 

 night soon sets in. A small boat, however, in a heavy head 

 sea, is, perhaps, not the most satisfactory place for reflection, 

 much as we might feel so disposed, and what few thoughts 

 were passing were suddenly checked by an exclamation from 

 one of the boatmen, and a green sea breaking on board, filling 

 the little cabin and drenching the mail bags and myself thor- 

 oughly. Crawling out and not understanding the gibberish, 

 as it then seemed to me, of the boatmen, who were now quite 

 excited, I -pointed first to the steamer and then to land, but ,' 

 no answer was deigned me, and they continued with 

 unremitting vigor, puffing and blowing, to keep the boat's I 

 head pointed for the steamer. It was decidedly quite an un- j 

 pleasant position to be placed in. Every wave washing us 

 from stern to stern, and thinking it might be advisable under 

 the circumstances to do as the sendoes had done, I com- I 

 menced to strip, leaving nothing on but a light undershirt and 

 an overcoat, thrown loosely about me, for it was a question in 

 my mind whether we should ever reach the steamer at all. 



After an hour's work the M was reached, aud as it was 



almost dark we shouted lustily for help. The gang-plank be- 

 ing down the mails were pitched to the quartermaster, and I 

 might truly say, myself likewise ; for, benumbed with cold 

 from an almost nude state for fifteen minutes, my limbs re- 

 fused motion, so that I was in some way pulled on board, 

 taken into the captain's lower cabin, rubbed with hot flannels 

 and plied with stimulants by incomparable celestial servants, 

 and after half an hour's application of this son of thing I 

 came round again. Captain 31 was quite surprised at the 



time that any boat should have put off that afternoon, as two 

 hours previously all the small craft in the bay had made for 

 an anchorage, and were out of harm's way. Instructions had 

 been given to sail that night, but the captain, taking into con- 

 sideration a falling barometer, a pitch dark night, and the 

 very threatening aspect of the weather, wisely concluded that 

 discretion was the better part of valor, and accordingly post- 

 poned his departure until the following morning, when pros- 

 pects of better weather were anticipated. 



The morning dawned, the sky was clear;: the wind had in a 

 measure subsided, and to all appearances the weather was all 

 that could be desired. Alas, for the snare and delusion— 

 " A sadder and a wiser man 

 He rose the morrow morn." 

 The anchor wa3 hoisted on board, and steam being already 

 up we left Hiogo anchorage, and with a moderate breeze 

 steamed down the Suwo Nada for Kii Channel. "We had fan- 

 weather until noon, during which time we met many junks, 

 which were all evidently in great haste to make land. 



" TYe have made an untimely mistake, Dr. Topin, in leav- 

 ing to-day," remarked Captain M , as we paced the deck ; 



"and," continued he, " I am rather afraid that we shall get 

 some rough weather outside tc-night, off Oosima, and if we 

 do we shall get it strong." 



I replied that everything seemed favorable enough to me, 

 except the steady fall in the barometer, which is not a pleas- 

 ant thing at any time at sea, and more particularly so on this 

 especial occasion, as we were short-handed in the crew. 



The afternoon was in a measure a repetition of the previous 

 one. The clouds were ragged, and the scud flew low; the 

 wind was squally and with heavy Qawa ; everything in fact 

 looked and felt as if something worse was soon to follow. 



We made the entrance of Kii Channel and the light on 

 Oosima late that evening, and kept our course about East. 

 The land at this time was scarcely discernible, owing to the 

 almost impenetrable blackness of the night, and as the wind 

 was still rising and a heavy head sea coming up the channel,, 

 we were glad to leave it astern and get into the rolling Pacific 

 The steamer, a long, sharp iron screw-boat of about 1,000 

 tons, formerly a Calcutta and Chinese opium clipper, clove the 

 crested seas like a knife, while the water ran aft in tons on 

 her flush deck. The prospect was anything but pleasant, and 



j Capt. II quietly remarked, after finding the barometer 



had fallento 28.20, that " we were in for it." There was cer- 

 tainly no sleep to be thought of then, so laying in a handful 

 I of cheroots and seeing things safely lashed in my cabin, I 

 | went up on deck, and, stepping cautiously upon the ladder 

 leading up to the bridge, ascended carefully and took my sta- 

 tion beside the first officer and the captain, who were engaged 

 in earnest conversation. The wind had now increased to a 

 heavy gale from the N. N. E., and orders were given to have 

 I the two men at the wheel, lashed, and life-lines stretched 

 along the deck, which was imperatively necessary in face of 

 I the vast volume of water continually pouring on board. 

 Precaution had previously been taken to have everything 

 snug aloft, an operation which was happily gone through 

 I when the weather was less threatening. I soon descended 

 from the bridge, and, after being well soaked, succeeded in 

 the difficult task of getting back into the cabin again, which 

 I was heartily glad of, as it was no easy matter to keep on 

 one's legs on the bridge of a ste»mer pitching and tumbling 

 into a seething sea. 



Turning in standing, I endeavored to catch a few moment's 

 sleep, but soon found that this was out of the question. At 

 midnight the wind had increased, and it whistled through 

 the rigging with most doleful effect, while the creaking and 

 groaning of the vessel, and the noise of the rush of the mighty 

 waters above and around us, were anything but pleasant 

 sounds. The pitching caused by the heavy sea rendered it 

 impossible to keep in one's berth, and to make matters still 

 worse, a small iron safe, which was used by the captain to 

 stow away his papers, etc., broke adrift and came crashing 

 through the drawers under my berth. To try to be still, and 

 have this thing, weighing about a ton, dancing about like a pea 

 in the cabin, was not to be thought of. So, after a desperate 

 leap, I managed to clear it without loss of life or limb, gain 

 the main saloon, and beckoning to two celestials, half dead 

 with fright, who were trying to steady themselves agaiust the 

 iuizzenmast, we cast a rope around the fractious bit of iron, 

 and securely lashed it to the mizzenmast after a great deal of 



