Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South CarolinaAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South Carolina
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
African Americans -- Fiction; Biographical fiction; Pereira, Manuel -- Fiction; South Carolina -- Fiction
THE British brig Janson, Thompson, master, laden with sugar, pimento,
&c. &c. left Kingston, Jamaica, in the early part of March, in the
present year, bound for Glasgow. The skipper, who was a genuine son
of the “Land o' Cakes,” concluded to take the inside passage, and run
through the gulf. This might have been questioned by seamen better
acquainted with the windward passage; but as every Scotchman likes to
have his own way, the advice of the first officer--an experienced salt
in the West India waters--went to leeward. On rounding Cape Antoine, it
was evident that a strong blow was approaching. The clouds hung their
dark curtains in threatening blackness; and, as the sharp flashes of
lightning inflamed the gloomy scene, the little bark seemed like a speck
upon the bosom of the sea. It was the first mate's watch on deck. The
wind, then blowing from the W.S.W., began to increase and veer into the
westward; from whence it suddenly chopped into the northward. The mate
paced the quarter wrapt in his fearnought jacket, and at every turn
giving a glance aloft, then looking at the compass, and again to the man
at the wheel, as if he had an instinct of what was coming.
He was a fearless navigator, yet, like many others who had yielded to
the force of habit, was deeply imbued with that prevalent superstition
so common to sailors, which regards a particular ship as unlucky.
Imagine an old-fashioned boatswain, with north-country features strongly
marked, a weather-beaten face, and a painted south-wester on his head,
and you have the “Mister Mate” of the old brig Janson.
“Keep her full, my hearty. We must take in our light sails and go on
the other tack soon. If we don't catch it before daylight, I'll miss my
calculation. She's an unlucky old craft as ever I sailed in, and if the
skipper a'n't mighty careful, he'll never get her across. I've sworn
against sailing in her several times, but if I get across in her this
time, I'll bid her good-by; and if the owners don't give me a new craft,
they may get somebody else. We're just as sure to have bad luck as if we
had cats and parsons aboard.”
Thus saying, he descended the companion-way, and reported the appearance
of the weather to the skipper, who arose quickly, and, consulting his
barometer, found it had fallen to near the lowest scale. After inquiring
the quarter of the wind, and how she headed, what sail she was carrying,
and the probable distance from the cape, he gave orders to call all
hands to take in the topgallant-sails, double reef the fore, and single
reef the maintop-sails, and stow the flying-jib--dressed himself, and
came on deck. Just as he put his head above the slide of the companion,
and stopped for a minute with his hands resting upon the sides, a vivid
flash of lightning hung its festoons of fire around the rigging, giving
it the appearance of a chain of livid flame.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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