The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 367: what you’re looking at

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

ON THE TRAIL OF A SEA MYSTERY. Pushing open the cabin doors, we de- scended. Here, too, all was silent, and the damp, musty odor told us that it had been long shut up. Quickly we went from room to room, in each one hoping that we might come across something that would throw light on the whereabouts of the crew and their reason for leaving, and at the same time fearful of what that some- thing might be; but in none of them did we find anything out of the way. Everything seemed in order; clothing hung on the bulkheads where it had been left, dishes were laid on the table, and in the mate’s room the berth was unmade, all of which tended to show that the crew had departed hastily and without waiting to gather up their be- longings. When we returned to the deck, glad once more to breathe the fresh, salt air after the closeness of the cabin, we tried the well and found some two feet of water in the vessel. This, then, may have been the cause of the crew’s leav- ing, and yet it seemed hardly a suffi- cient reason, for the ship was apparently stanch and tight, and two fect or so of water does not count for much. We eould see that the boats were gone, showing the manner of departure, and where the small quarter-boat had hung at the davits the blocks and falls still dangled over the water, chafing the ship’s side. We hailed the Washington at this point, and when she had dropped down to leeward of us we held a consultation over the heaving bit of water interven- ing. The outcome of which was that four of the pilots and our four sailors came aboard the bark to sail her back to New York; for we were well aware that we had stumbled upon a prize, and that our salvage would amount to more than pilotage fees for eight months of cruising—such good money is there in bringing an abandoned vessel into port. When the boys came ahoard we turned to at the pumps, and I remem- ber how surprised we all were at the short time it took to free her of water. Next we got some sail on her—slowly, for we made but a small erew—finding her. canvas and gear in fair order, though a trifle weather-worn. Then we Gou gle 363 headed back for New York, and soon parted company with our little schooner. Nothing turned up on the run back to the coast to enlighten us as to the cause of the vessel being adrift in that part of the Atlantic, and the bark, which proved to be the Harbinger of Boston, seemed in good condition and made but little water, execpt when we had a head sea, when we found it neces- sary to try the pumps every two hours. None of our pilots could reeall any vessel by that name having been lately reported as abandoned, nor could we place the date of her sailing. From her appearance, she had been adrift a long time—how long we could not say, as her log book and papers were gone, though we found several newspapers and old magazines aboard, all bearing dates of over @ year previous. We finally came to the conclusion that it was a case of insurance swin- dling, and that on our return we should probably find that the vessel or cargo, or both, had been heavily over-insured. The crew had no doubt abandoned her well out of the trade routes on slight provoeation, been picked up by some passing ship, and reported their vessel as m a sinking condition when they left her. It was not such an uncommon game. What chance had brought the bark back to this part of the ocean we could not then guess, but we did not waste much time in speculating upon that point, being satisfied that the vessel was in good condition and a rich prize to us. On our arrival in New York we made our report to the custom authorities and the board of underwriters, and then hunted up the record of our prize. We found it readily enough among the reports of such cases on file at the Maritime Exchange. It was very short, was dated over a vear back, and I shall append it just as it read: , Official report of Captain Bradshaw of American bark Harbinger, lately aban- doned at sea: Sailed from New York, February 20th last, bound for Singapore with a general cargo; and for the first week experienced variable weather. On February 27th ran into a heavy north- east gale, in which vessel strained con- siderably and started to leak. The water