Isles of the sea; or, Young America homeward bound : $b A story of travel and adventureOptic, Oliver
General
Isles of the sea; or, Young America homeward bound : $b A story of travel and adventure
Optic, Oliver
Seafaring life -- Juvenile fiction
“Yes, sir: here is a tolerably full account of the voyage of the Ville
d’Angers, and of the state of things on board of the Castle William,”
continued the senior vice-principal, as he seated himself under the
awning on the quarter-deck of the American Prince.
“Let us hear it,” added the principal eagerly.
It was a Southampton paper; and the editor reminded his readers of the
visit of the academy squadron to the waters of the Solent and Spithead,
and the race around the Isle of Wight, about six years before. Then
followed an account of the picking-up of the French steamer, and the
subsequent falling-in with the wreck of the Castle William.
“A very wealthy American gentleman,” the article continued, “who
was the patron of the academy squadron, and had presented to its
distinguished principal an elegant and costly steam-yacht of twelve
hundred tons burden, happened to be a passenger, with his family,
in the Ville d’Angers from Havre to Malaga. When the condition of
things on board of the unfortunate Castle William was ascertained,
this noble-hearted gentleman, with his wife and her sister, went on
board of the hulk where pestilence and death were raging, and tenderly
nursed the sick. Mr. Frisbone, who is jocosely called the ‘American
Prince,’--and he is one of Nature’s most royal princes,--immediately
resorted to various sanitary measures, and with his own hands
whitewashed the space between decks of the fever-stricken vessel. The
medicines and supplies put on board of the ship by the steamer were
so well used that the sick immediately began to improve; and now all
are doing well. They have all been removed to the quarantine hospital,
where the small-pox patients are convalescent.
“Undoubtedly the careful nursing of the sick by this self-sacrificing
gentleman and the ladies saved the lives of many, if not all, of the
sick. Certainly the heroic exertions of the young gentlemen of the
school-ship saved the vessel and her freight of human beings; and they
deserve the highest praise. Mr. Frisbone, as the agent of the principal
of the academy squadron, has libelled the Castle William for salvage;
and we learn that negotiations for an amicable adjustment of the
amount are in progress. The owners of the steamer, by their attorney,
have already put in their claim for the Ville d’Angers, subject to
reasonable salvage.
“We regret to add that there has been some trouble about the discipline
among the young officers of the steamer. The first and third officers
of the steamer, appointed by the senior vice-principal in charge
of one of the vessels of the academy squadron, were mutinous, and
refused to do duty, attempting to incite others of the crew to follow
their example. Possibly it was a boyish frolic; but the young captain
promptly caused the arrest of the two offenders, and has kept them
prisoners in their state-rooms up to the present time. But all the rest
of the ship’s company yield a willing obedience to the authority of the
captain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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