The Sandman: His Ship Stories  by Willliam J. Hopkins

The Deserted Ship Story

NCE upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago.

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been and always will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of a city from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, for it is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grown up with weeds and grass.

Once, in the long ago, the brig Industry  had sailed from the far country and she was bound for Boston; for Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob had moved their office to Boston, and their ships all sailed from Boston and they did not go to that little city at all. And the Industry  had sailed around the end of the country where the monkeys live and into another great ocean. And she had sailed up through that ocean and through the Doldrums, where it is apt to be calm and where it rains a great deal, and she had got into the Trade Winds. And on the Industry  were Captain Solomon and little Sol and little Jacob and a sailor named Ephraim and a sailor who had stowed away when the ship left the far country. But the stowaway had done so well and he had shown himself such a smart sailor that Captain Solomon liked him very much. And because Captain Solomon had treated him fairly and had given him a passage to Boston and had not punished him for stowing away, the stowaway was devoted to Captain Solomon and would do anything for him that he could do.

And, one morning when they were sailing along at a great rate, and had every sail set that the ship could set, suddenly the lookout in the crosstrees called out:

"Sail, O!" he cried.

"Well!" said Captain Solomon. "Where away?" And he grumbled a little, for the Industry  was sailing so well that he didn't want to stop or go out of his course for any ship.

"Couple of points on the weather bow," answered the sailor. "She's acting queer, sir. I can't make out what she's up to."

Captain Solomon kept on grumbling while he got out the glass and looked through it. And he could just see the upper sails of the ship, and they seemed to be flapping or blowing out in the wind, and the ship didn't keep on any course, but sailed this way and that, as though there was nobody steering her. But she was so far off that Captain Solomon couldn't make out what was the matter.

Captain Solomon sighed and grumbled more than ever, for he knew that he ought to see what was the matter. So he turned to the mate.

"Better bear up for her," he said. "It's hard luck, but we've got to see what's wrong."

So they changed the course of the Industry  until she was headed right for the ship, and the sailors hauled on the bowlines to make the sails catch the wind better, and they began to come nearer. And Captain Solomon kept looking through the long glass, and the mate got a shorter glass, and he looked through that, and all the sailors looked, as soon as they had finished hauling on the bowlines, and, altogether, there was a good deal of excitement. For, when a ship is sailing in the Trade Winds, there is very little for the sailors to do, and they can't always be swabbing down the decks or tarring the ropes, which was what the mate made them do, to keep them busy. So anything unusual is a diversion, and a cause of excitement.

So they changed the course of the Industry.

And, the nearer they came to the ship, the more puzzled Captain Solomon and the mate and all the sailors were. And after a time they were near enough to see the deck, and they couldn't see any men on her, but they could see that her topsails were all torn to ribbons and some other sails had been blown away and left a remnant or two fluttering from the yards. But her masts were standing, and all her yards and spars seemed to be all right. Captain Solomon knew well enough that she had been through a great storm, somewhere, and all the sailors knew it, too. But he didn't know where her crew could be.

So the Industry  was brought around to windward of the ship, and as close as Captain Solomon dared to go, and her yards were swung around so that she wouldn't go ahead. And Captain Solomon hailed the ship, but there wasn't any answer, and he didn't expect that there would be. And he got out a boat with sailors to row it and to board the ship, which was hard to do, because she sailed every which way, and she didn't stay put. But the mate managed to get on board of her at last, and the sailors that were with him fixed the yards so that she wouldn't go ahead, and one of the sailors went to the wheel. And the mate and some of the sailors went and looked in the cabin and in the forecastle and in the hold and everywhere there was, but they didn't find any of the crew nor any signs of them. And the ship's boats were gone, and so were the things the captain used for telling where they were, the sextant and the chronometer and the compass. And there wasn't anything fit to eat on the ship, only some old mouldy biscuit and some salt meat that was bad.

He got out a boat with sailors to row it.

So, when he had been everywhere there was, the mate came on deck again and had the sailors try the pumps. And he found that there was only a little water in the ship, just enough to keep her sweet, but the pumps were broken so that they wouldn't work very well. And the mate hailed Captain Solomon and told him what he had found out, and said that the ship had been deserted for a long time, so far as he could tell, and that the crew had taken to the boats and that they had evidently taken with them all the food they could carry and the sextant and the chronometer and the compass. And he hoped that they had been picked up long ago. But the ship was sound and sweet and her spars were all right, and he asked what he should do.

Then Captain Solomon thought he might as well take the ship home and come into Boston with two ships when he had sailed away with only one. So he sent another boat with all the spare sails the Industry  had, and he had the sailors draw lots to see who should go in the ship they had found and who should stay on the Industry. And the sailors who were going on the ship they had found, went off in another boat, and those who were to go on the Industry  stayed on board; but some of the sailors who had gone with the mate had to come back. And Captain Solomon left two boats with the mate, and he sent on board of the ship enough things to eat and enough water to last them until they got into Boston.

Little Sol wanted to go on the ship and little Jacob kind of wanted to go, too; but Captain Solomon wouldn't let them go. And the stowaway was going, and he had been chosen by the mate to act as mate of the ship; for the mate of the Industry  was to be the captain of that ship. And Ephraim was going on the ship, too.

By the time all these things were done it was dark night, and Captain Solomon had promised that he would lie by the ship until morning, and then that he would go under easy sail, so that the ship could keep up with the Industry. For the ship hadn't any sails to speak of, and the sailors would have to fit the spare sails from the Industry  to go on the yards as well as they could, but it wasn't likely that the sails would fit very well, for the ship was bigger than the Industry.

So the Industry  lay by until morning, and then she went under easy sail; but Captain Solomon found that the ship couldn't keep up with him, no matter how little sail he set. So he sent some more men on board the ship, and they were busy all of that day in fitting the sails to the ship; and when that was done, the men came back, and set the topsails on the Industry.

Then the two ships sailed along together. Sometimes Captain Solomon had to set more sails, to keep up, and sometimes he had to take in some sails, so as not to run away from the other vessel. And they had good weather until they were almost into Boston; but then it began to blow. And Captain Solomon kept on as long as he possibly could, and he had sighted land, but it blew so hard that he had to turn around and run for it; for the wind was out of the west, and he didn't dare to try to go into Boston with the wind blowing so hard from the west, for fear that he might wreck the Industry. And he thought that it would be a great pity to run the risk of doing that, right in Boston harbor, when she had been away off to India and got back safely. They didn't have tugboats then.

And the wind blew hard out of the west for two days, and Captain Solomon lost sight of the other ship, and he was driven over three hundred miles away in that two days. And when the wind was light enough, he turned around again, and at last he managed to sail into Boston harbor. But he hadn't seen the other ship in all that time, and he didn't know where it was or whether it had been wrecked or not.

And when the Industry  was sailing into the harbor little Jacob was looking out ahead to see if he could see their wharf and the people on it that he hadn't seen for such a long time. The people that he hoped to see were his mother and his little sister Lois and his grandfather and his father; and he knew perfectly well that there was no reason why they should be there, waiting for him, but still he couldn't help hoping. In those days, there was no way of knowing about a ship that was coming in until she was near enough for somebody to recognize her or her flags. And still little Jacob looked and hoped. And he saw the wharf, and he saw a ship there that had just come in. He knew that it had just come in, for the sailors were just finishing the tying of the ropes that held it to the wharf. Little Sol was beside him and little Jacob spoke to him.

"Say, Sol," said little Jacob, "what ship is that, tying up to our wharf?"

And little Sol looked. "It is," he cried. "It is the ship we found. I must tell father. My! Won't he be mad!"

And little Sol ran to tell Captain Solomon, and Captain Solomon was angry, as little Sol had thought he would be, because the ship had got in ahead of the Industry. But he was glad, too, for he knew that his sailors were all safe.

"Huh!" he growled. "That mate's a smart man, getting in ahead of me!"

And they came nearer to the wharf and little Jacob kept on watching. And pretty soon he saw Captain Jonathan come down on the wharf and then Captain Jacob came. And, by and by, just as they were almost in, there came Lois and little Lois and they were running, for they had been afraid that they might be too late. And they all saw little Jacob, and they waved to him, and they called out, but Lois couldn't call out, for she was crying. And little Jacob was crying, too.

And, at last, the Industry  was fast to the wharf, and the plank was out. And little Jacob would have gone down, but he couldn't for Lois came running up the plank, and behind her was Captain Jonathan with little Lois, and after him came Captain Jacob. And Lois couldn't speak, but she hugged little Jacob hard, and she kissed him over and over again. And then came little Lois, and she kissed little Jacob over and over again, and he kissed her. And Captain Jonathan kissed little Jacob, too, although he was a big boy and didn't generally like to be kissed. And Captain Jacob came, and he shook hands with little Jacob for a long time, and all the time he was smiling. Then Lois kissed little Sol, too, she was so glad. But little Sol didn't mind.

And, at last, Captain Jonathan said that they would all go home, and Captain Solomon could tell them about the voyage some other time. And he asked Captain Solomon to come up to the house and bring little Sol. But Captain Solomon smiled and said that he guessed he wouldn't come up right then.

So Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob and Lois and little Lois and little Jacob all went down the sloping plank, and those five happy people walked to the house in Portland Street. And Lois couldn't let go of little Jacob, but she had her arm around him all the way,

And that's all of this book.