THE MATE OF THE
VANCOUVER
BY
MORLEY ROBERTS
AUTHOR OF "KING BILLY OF BALLARAT," ETC.
NEW YORK
STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS
238 WILLIAM STREET
Copyright, 1892,
By CASSELL PUBLISHING CO.
Copyright, 1900
By STREET & SMITH
CONTENTS.
PART I.
PART II.
PART III.
PART IV.
PART V.
THE MATE OF THE VANCOUVER.
PART I.
ON BOARD THE VANCOUVER.
I am going to write, not the history of mylife, which, on the whole, has been as quietas most men's, but simply the story of abouta year of it, which, I think, will be almostas interesting to other folks as any yarn spunby a professional novel writer; and if I amwrong, it is because I haven't the knowledgesuch have of the way to tell a story. As afriend of mine, who is an artist, says, I knowI can't put in the foreground properly, but ifI tell the simple facts in my own way, it willbe true, and anything that is really truealways seems to me to have a value of itsown, quite independent of what the paperscall "style," which a sailor, who has neverwritten much besides a log and a fewlove-letters, cannot pretend to have. That iswhat I think.
Our family—for somehow it seems as if Imust begin at the beginning—was alwaysgiven to the sea. There is a story that mygreat-grandfather was a pirate or buccaneer;my grandfather, I know, was in the RoyalNavy, and my father commanded a Chinaclipper when they used to make, for thosedays, such fast runs home with the newseason's tea. Of course, with these examplesbefore us, my brother and I took the sameline, and were apprenticed as soon as ourmother could make up her mind to partwith her sons. Will was six years olderthan I, and he was second mate in the vesselin which I served my apprenticeship; but,though we were brothers, there wasn't muchlikeness either of body or mind between us;for Will had a failing that never troubledme, and never will; he was always fond ofhis glass, a thing I despise in a seaman, andespecially in an officer, who has so many livesto answer for.
In 1881, when I had been out of myapprenticeship for rather more than four years,and had got to be mate by a deal of hardwork—for, to tell the truth, I liked practicalseamanship then much better than navigationand logarithms—I was with my brotherin the Vancouver, a bark of 1100 tonsregister. If it hadn't been for my mother, Iwouldn't have sailed with Will, but she wasalways afraid he would get into troublethrough drink; for when he was at homeand heard he was appointed to the commandof this new vessel, he was carried to bed agreat deal the worse for liquor. So when heoffered me the chief officer's billet, motherpersuaded me to take it.
"You must, Tom," she said; "for my sake,do. You can look after him, and perhapsshield him if anything happens, for I am infear all the time when he is away, but if youwere wi