Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 226: On the Deep

On the Deep: The Missionary's Daughter

By Roger Starbuck, this maritime adventure opens as the bark Rainbow departs the Sandwich Islands with eighteen-year-old Grace Greenville aboard. Recently orphaned following her missionary father's death, Grace grieves the island she's leaving forever. The ship's captain and first mate—colorfully portrayed as bumbling but well-meaning—interpret her sorrow as requiring elaborate sympathy: they dress entirely in black and keep their hats on at table. The educated second mate, Guy Loring, later explains their misguided intentions. As Grace and Loring speak on deck, two enormous rotating columns of vapor—waterspouts—approach rapidly across the ocean. Loring commands the crew to shorten sail, reducing canvas to storm-ready trim. The officers prepare the vessel as the tempest descends with violent wind and rain, the rigging humming as it bears the strain.