Adventure Magazine Cover — page 85: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Midnight”? Johnson smoke belching from her stack, “‘a bone in her teeth,” the tug Ranger steamed to the rescue. Her efficient crew wasted no time, Within ten minutes she was snaking the Westland into the harbor. The salvaged craft was leaking badly, in addition to losing her rudder and knocking off the blades of her propeller against the rocks. As a final touch to Madison’s wounded self-esteem, the crippled, sinking Westland was deposited on the mud-flat within a hundred yards of the Charlotte. Within an hour a conference was held, at Johnson’s request, aboard the Charlotte. Seated around a dining-table were Johnson, Madison, Lindstrom and Ingells. Johnson arose and spoke. j ‘Gentlemen, when I say there are some thirty or so square miles of tidal area in Humboldt Bay you may think I am not sticking to my promise of explaining why the Westland went on the jetty. Those wide miles of tide-water are responsible. ‘‘When the tide ebbs, all this water has to find its way seaward through the narrow entrance. The tides from Arcata Bay and the northern channels meet at the entrance with the tide from South Bay, causing tre- mendous rip tides and a deadly undertow. The latter would not trouble most ships. The tug went right in and threw a line aboard the Westland. “The tug’s shallow draft left her un- touched by the deeper rip currents. It was the same way with the old Elk River; I could enter safely at almost any time. “But the Westland is built wrong; she is too deep in her draft. Her keel and rolling chocks are close to the bottom when on Humboldt Bar with the tide low. The strong undertow therefore gets a good grip on her. And her rudder is far too smal). ‘Some peculiarity in the lines of her hull may have more to do with her being caught in a way that makes her disregard her helm when in a tide rip. She may be able to enter any other harbor on the coast, on an ebb tide even, but Humboldt ebbs are too much for her. 79 “Mr. Madison, this is a plea for Captain Ingells. I warned him, and he would have heeded me. He obeyed your orders—and wrecked his vessel. ‘Obey orders even though you bankrupt owners’ is the un- written law of the sea. And often it is by simply obeying orders that a master stands in danger of having his license—his meal- ticket—revoked. “T was heeding your warning to make time and save money when twice I tried to take the Westland into Humboldt on an ebb tide. Are you going to give Captain Ingells a square deal?”’ “You bet I am,” answered Madison. ‘I. can fix it with the inspectors so that he won’t even get a thirty-day suspension. He stays on the payroll while the Westland undergoes repairs.” “And have I shown you, convinced you, that my theory about the Westland’s disas- ters is correct?” ‘Jumping Jupiter, yes!’ agreed Madison. “If you get any more theories in the future that are liable to be as expensive to prove as this one, I may be willing to believe you.” ‘* “May be willing’ is probably correct,” grinned Johnson. ‘The only way to con- vince you is with a club—or sea-water.” Madison smiled feebly. “Don’t rub it in,” he protested. ‘I hope I’m cured. And by the way, I’m afraid Captain Lindstrom will have to bear the penalty for striking Blunt’s Reef. The commissioners will certainly revoke his license. ‘“‘When the Charlotte comes out of dry- dock she’ll have a new master. Midnight Johnson is elected for the berth.” “That makes it unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Madison,” said the newly created master of the Charlotte. ‘And I want Lind- strom for my first officer. Any objections?” “None at all. He’s a good seaman. I’m glad you want him. And _besides—”’ Madison grinned—“‘if I objected, he would think it was because he threw me off the bridge last night.” (©