"Bloody Dick"

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 181, 23 August 1872, Page 6

"Bloody Dick"

OF THE GOLDEN AEKOW.

' When I joined the ship Golden Arrow at New York for San Francisco, she was ly- ••. ing in the East River waiting for a crew, and I was detained at the ladder by the delay incident to slinging and hoisting on board a young sailor who was literally ; dead drunk. I reached the deck while one of the. officers was searching the man'sbag for concealed liquor, and had time to notice how superb was the figure and handsome the face of the young fellow who lay helpless and unconscious on the deck. The search ended, he was dragged forward by a couple of riggers who were still employed on the vessel, and deliberately thrown down the forecastle hatch, his canvas bag being thrown after him. i When, a few moments afterwards, I went below, I found him still lying at the foot - of the ladder, with his head severely cut against a link of the chain cable. I dragged him out of the way, and putting his bag under his head, looked around me. In that-dark unyentilated den there were, a dozen men in various stages of drunkenness. • Early the next morning, while I was drawing a bucket ,of water for the purposes of a primitive morning toilet, the young sailor made his appearance, and ' lounging near : me, said, "After you, . mate." . He was quite sober, and but for ... the blood that matted- his hair, showed little trace 0f..-his. late besotted condition. ' After he had plunged his head into the bucket,, and dried" his face on his sleeve, he turned to me and asked, ' " What ship's this ?" " The Golden Arrow," I replied "bound for Frisco." - " ForFriscoi" he repeated, " I thought so by the look of. her.. What's the old man's name ?" . • " James Smith;" I answered. ' " I don Yknow him," he returned. Then, as if struck with a new idea, he asked, " What day is it ?" . I .told him it was Wednesday, December 10. " Well," he replied, " thatV rough on me. I only got in from Havre yesterday . in the eld ship Uliine, and here some . v has shanghaied me. I don't care, though. •Do you know -who stove my head in ?" " Thankee. shipmate,", said he, when I • had explained the cause of his accident. "If you want anything of me on this -voyage, just pass the word for Bill, and ; he'll be there every time." ' He left me to beg a drink from the mate—a favor which no intelligent officer refuses to a sailor wlio lias just come out of a drunken debauch. He returned, ? however, disappointed, and cursing the mate heartily. We stood leaning over the rail when a small "boat from ilie shore! approached the ship. As she came along- i - side, Bill remarked upon the hard, cruel .face of the slight-built, thin-lipped "man f who was her soli tary passenger. " I hope that ain i Cap n James Smith," said he. it is, were goin' to have a lively. , time." "That .ain't no James Smith," chimed in . an old sailor who had approached us, " but I can just tell you who it is. That. . there is 4 Bloody Dick,' and if he's, goin' to take this sh~p' out you'll know what' hell is before your off soundings." *" Bloody Dick " was the nickname of a j... captain so notorious as the hardest master afloat that no ship advertised in-his name could obtain a crew.. The mention of his name created an immediate stir amonr the men who were i<ow on deck, and they .. crowded to the side to look at the hated 'tyrant. " him," said the old sailor who had already spoken. " I knemr his ugly mug.

He stove my ribs in on board the old Vicksburg, and gave me this here list to port that spiles me for heavy work." . The subject of so much notice had already reached the quarter-deck, and, from the obsequious manner in which he was saluted by the mates, was evidently the man who was to command the ship. The boat whicli conveyed him turned back to the shore. The great wheels, of the steam tug that was made -fast to ourvside began to revolve, and we entered upon our three months' voyage at the absolute mercy of the worst tyrant that the sea, which breeds its petty Neros and Caligulas by the score, had ever known.

While passing down the bay, the men were mustered for division into watches. Among-them was one man with delirium tremens, who was : outwardly quiet enough, but whose eye was wild and wandering. ]So sooner had he caught sight of the captain, who was standing in the waist of the ship, than he uttered a wild scream". " ' Bloody Dick ' is after me," he cried, with a teiTor that was frightful to witness ; and. springing on the rail, he threw up his hands and plunged overboard. Not the i slightest attempt was made to rescue him, but I fancied that I saw a grim smile cn the captain's thin lips as he witnessed this tribute to his terrible reputation. With the story of the first few weeks of the voyage I need not trouble you.. It was a daily succession of wanton brutalities. The mates, either from inclination or policy, imitated the, cruelties of the master, and were apt-scholars in his infamous school. Every day some unfortu-; nate sailor was knocked down or beaten. | "Bloody Dick " had made a study of the ! science of torture, and often put in prac-! tice cruelties that in their devilish insenuity made the' Old World inquisitors I seem but dullards at their trade. Our crew at the outset was far smaller than it i should have been for the efficient working: . o of so large a" ship, aha. I began to fear that the black, cook's - prophecy might prove true when he said; " ' Bloody Dick' won't leave enough of you fellers to work her into port. :He ? il have to put me and the stewardess into his watch."

For though we had no passengers, we had a stewardess—a slight, sad-eyed, though rather pretty woman, whose gay ribbons sometimes fluttered on the deck. " Bloody Dick " did not except her from the fcruel treatment which he gave to- his crew, and the cook, who had access' tothe cabin, swore that he had seen the captain more than once strike her in the face. All this time Bill and myself had beenextremely fortunate. A few biows had fallen to our share, but neither of us had much reason to complain. One day, however, two of the men dragged Bill forward from the wheel utterly insensible, and with his handsome face beaten out of recognition.. According to: the stoi-y of one of the two, Bill was at the lee wheeltwo men being needed to steer the ship in heavy weather—when the stewardess came on deck. It had so happened that he had never, before seen her since leaving portAs lie caught sight of her face he uttered a cry, and letting go the wheel ran toward her. Ihe woman in her .turn gave a shriek and ran bc-lovr. Then the captain and the second mate set upon him, and beat him until they were tired.

Bill was on deck again the next day, and'l took an opportunity of asking Mm the reason of his extraordinary conduct. But he would give me no satisfactory exI planation. : He insisted that he had never noticed the womaiv ana that he left the wheel because he wanted some tobacco. Of course I knew that this was untrue, ~but ho pyidontly had his reasons for refusing to be communicative, and I had grown so warmly attached to him that I did not press him further on a subject \yluch was clearly painful to him., But

from this time lie grew silent and moody. All his gay spirits, that had kept heart in us even in the horrors of that slaughtership, vanished.

One night Bill and I came on deck, when we heard shrieks issuing from the cabin. Neither of us spoke a word, but Bill's face grew set and fierce in the moonlight.

I Once I fancied that I saw him talking | with the stewardess in the shadow of the I house amidships ; hut when I approached him a little while afterward he was quite alone, lie affected complete ignorance of, i the miserable woman, whose relation to I "Bloody Dick" was evident, and could not be drawn into conversation about,her. She rarely came on deck, and Bill and I, who were in tlie' same watch, scarcely ever caught a glimpse of her. At last, how-' ever, an afternoon arrived when we two were sitting on the lee side of the. quarter--deck mending a.split sail; we were working rapidly and silently when " Bloody Dick" appeared, followed with evident reluctance by the woman. They stood near the companion-way, and the. captain plainly spoke to her of Bill, for he pointed towards him as he was questioning heiv We could not hear his questions nor her answers, but the latter threw "Bloody Dick into one of his quiet, devilish rages. He turned on her with a torrent of'the foulest language spoken in soft and measured- accents, and ordered her below. Then he approached Bill, and kicked him till he grew weary of the exercise. Neither of us said a word, as remonstrance would only have made matters worse. The sailor that is in the power of a brutal captain has no possible redress at" sea No one dare, lift a finger to protect him, and there are no police to answer his cry lor help. ' . . A few nights afterwards Bill came to me in the first watch, and drawing me apart from the other men, said to me—

" You're my friend, and I'm proud of it. for you've been, something a sight bettor than a sailor before you came to. this. I was a decent man too, once, but I was ruined by a woman. I wasn't a gentleman, you understand, but my dad was a respectable man, and my mother was as nice a woman as there was in Xjondon. I grew up at home, and was in dad s shop selling groceries and keeping myself pretty straight. X didn't drink in them days, you understand ; and I was a quiet, harcl-workiug young fellow, only I was. —— fool enough to get married. I warn't twenty year's old, mind you, and she w-as.three years younger than me—vhe prettiest giri in the Tower: Hamlets. Aiid by r she was innocent and good when I knew her, and she was fond ot'rne too, till she got her head filled with notions of being a fine lady. It was an Injee mate, one of Green's fellows—thein chaps that wears uniforms and gold lace. He ruined her. So I went to sea. That's t three years ago, and I've been knocking I round ever since." . "Have you ever found the man?" I asked.' ■' JN ot yet,?' he an s wered ; " but—but " I —and he seemed unable to speak. " But what, Bill ?" said I. "Speak out, old mau; you know you can trust me."

" I've^found her," he answered; "she's aboard this ship. The girl the old man licks v, hen lie's tired of licking us is my little £s ell." Here he walked suddenly away from me, and stood alone by the lore-rigging, his head bent upon his arm. By and by he came back to me, and went on with the story. " She knows me, and she ain't afraid of me. I 'couldn't hurt her, you know. I'vehad a talk withher, and she hates ' Bloody Dick' worse than we do. He : won't beat . her again, though." • " How do you know that P" I asked. " Because," he repjied fiercely, " he's a dead man before twenty-(bur hours are over. I've got - the whole thing fixed. The men are all in but you. I warn't going to say a word to you about it, so as you'd be all right if we failed. But we ain't going to fail. To-inorrow night we'll take' this ship, or there won't be men enough left to sail her." I " But. Bill," I urged, " you've lost your I senses j man. You'll ruin the whole of us. I IT you can trust the men to follow, which I don't believe you can, for they've no heart left in them, what could you do? You'd be hung if you took the ship into

port; besides, none of;.us can'-navigate lier."

• "Burn her," he replied, " and .lake, to the boats. We're on the Pacific now, and you can cruise all over it in a small boat-. When we're picked up, we'll swear, the officers went down with the ,ship; ' who's to prove the contrary ?" • ■ -Here we were called to shorten sail, and our conversation came to .an end. Riii did not speak to ine again that night, nor the next day. I anxiously awaited the approach of the following night. So far as " Bloody Pick" was concerned, I would not have liftes a finger to save liini; but I how mad and hopeless' any attempt at mutiny must necessarily, 'be. The next day, soon after one o'clock, when all hands were on deck—for on the Golden Arrow, whether the weather was fair or foul, all hands were kept at work in the afternoon—l was aloft reeving a. new leech-line to the mizentopsail. I was not looking for any demonstration on the part of the mutineers until niylitfall, and, therefore, though I saw Bill and the rest of the' crew gathered together on the forecastle, I did not suspect that any outbreak was at hand. Presently, however, the group separated, and five men,' Bill leadthem, came aft together, the others re-maining-on the forecasile. The five approached t^equarter-deck,where "Bloody Dick was pacing up and down, and the mate was leaning oyer the rail speaking to .tlie second mate, who was ih the iinzzvnl chains examining a defective dead eye. Suddenly Bill threw himself, knife in litUiclj on tlie captain, while two of his companions attacked the mate, and the other two, armed' with iron belaying-pins, stood at the companion- way -ready to strike down the third and fourth officers, ' should the noise bring them up from their dinner below. I ceased working, and watched the scene. The mate made a stout defence, though taken completely by surprise ; but he was soon overpowered I and beaten down. The second mate, howI ever,- sprang over the bulwarks, and uni armed rushed gallantly to his- rescue. Meanwhile; Bill had planted a severe stab in the captain's left shoulder. " Bloody Dick," .bully though he was, did not* the meaning of .fear. He sprang backward from the saiior's first attack, and striking him a terriffic blow under tne chin he sent him heavily to the deck. Drawing a revolver, he instantly fired' at him, and then turning to the aid of the second mate shot both'his assailants. The two.men at the compan ion - way, seeing the fate of ,their companions, turned- US tly just as the two officers from below rushed on deck. The captain's unt-r.'ing pistol struck, one of the fugitives down dead, •and the other, seeing that the game was hopeless, hurled his belaying-pin at the •nearest .of his pursuers, and leaping overboard sank instantly out of sight. - The mutiny had hardly lasted five minutes, and not one of the mutineers remained unhurt. ' ■

As soon as the fight was over all hands were called aft, myself included, and "Bloody .Dick," with his smoting revolver in his hand, demanded to know who were concerned in the conspiracy. So great was the terror which this man exercised, that the men stood silent and irresolute, lacking even the spirit to deny their crime. Bill, however, who was lying on the deck with a ball through his spine, answered for them. " They were all in it except him," he said, pointing to me ; but the d d cowards went back on me when there was a fight on hand. He (still meaning myself} is the only man who didn't know what we meant to do, and that I'll swear t^." "Bloody Dick" looked at us for a few moments with a smile of .the bitterest contempt, and then ordered us forward. " Heave those carcases overboard," he continued, turning to the mates, "the wnole c£■ them, mind, whether they've croaked or not. Overboard with them." Spurning one of the bodies with his foot, he wont below. But as the barbarous order was about to be executed, the stewardess rushed wiidly on deck and threw herself on Bill's dying form, weeping in passionate grief.. Bills arm stole slowly and weakly about her neck. '" Don't take on so, darling," he. said. " I did it for your sake. I/on't mind mo." Oh, Bill, dear Bill," she sobbed, "1 have killed you, I have killed you! You can t forgive me now." I do forgive you free and. earnest," he answered? " Yoxi was only a child anyhow, and perhaps I didn't treat you kind enough. Tell rne you love me now, and -L die all right. u -r.-^ 0 vo T ou> ' s^e Cl 'i e d, "my dear i 2 $ • .-They shan't take you from-me. | It you die, I'll die too."

I lie mates roughly dragged tlie shrieking woman avray, and one of tiiem carried aer into the cabin. I reluctantly obeyed the order to go fox-ward, and from the forecastle I saw Ihe living and the dead cast overboard. '] hvis ended the mutiny of the Golden Arrow.