The Missing Ship

The Missing Ship, by W. H. G.
Kingston

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Title: The Missing Ship The Log of the "Ouzel" Galley
Author: W. H. G. Kingston
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21470]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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MISSING SHIP ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Missing Ship
The Log of the "Ouzel" Galley
by W.H.G. Kingston

CHAPTER ONE.
THE MASTER OF THE OUZEL GALLEY--HIS SON AND
DAUGHTER--THE FIRST MATE--A CALM--A GALE SPRINGS
UP--A RAFT SEEN--OWEN RESCUES ITS OCCUPANT--DAN,
AND POMPEY, THE BLACK COOK--SURMISES ABOUT THE
STRANGER--THE GALE CEASES--THE STRANGER APPEARS
ON DECK AND GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF-- GIVES
FIRST NEWS OF WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND
FRANCE--LANCELOT CARNEGAN BECOMES SECOND MATE
OF THE OUZEL GALLEY.
"No sign of a breeze yet, Owen?" asked Captain Tracy, as he lay in his
cot, slung in the state-room of the Ouzel Galley, West India trader, of
which stout bark he was the commander. His fair daughter Norah sat by
his side fanning his pale cheek--for he, like several of his crew, had
been struck down by fever, and he probably owed his life to her
watchful care. For many days the vessel had lain becalmed on the
glassy ocean under a tropical sun, the excessive heat tending greatly to
increase the sickness on board, three of the crew, besides the second
mate, having already succumbed to it. Day after day the survivors had
been anxiously looking out for the wind to fill the sluggish sails
hanging down against the masts; but each morning they had seen the
fiery sun rise out of the calm ocean and pass across the blue vault of
heaven, to sink again beneath the horizon, suffusing with a ruddy glow
the whole western sky. The night brought relief from the heat, and hope
revived; but when morning returned, again the suffering crew had to
endure the scorching rays of the sun, from which even the shade cast by
the sails afforded them but inadequate shelter. The chips from the
carpenter's bench which had been thrown overboard still lay alongside;
while the creaking of the yards and blocks, and the slight splashing
sound as the vessel moved from side to side by the now scarcely
perceptible undulations of the broad Atlantic, alone broke the silence
which, reigned over the watery expanse on which she floated. Norah--a
fair and beautiful girl, who, though scarcely sixteen summers had
passed over her head, had already the appearance, and what was to her
of the greatest consequence, the calm resolution of more mature

age--stopping for a moment in her employment, looked up with an
inquiring glance from her blue eyes towards the first mate, who had
just then, hat in hand, entered the cabin.
"A bank of clouds has just appeared above the horizon in the sou'-west,
sir, and from the rapid way in which it is rising we shall, if I mistake
not, have the wind before long, and as much as we want of it," he
replied.
"Thank Heaven!" ejaculated the captain. "See all ready for shortening
sail. I must try to come on deck, for we are sadly short-handed."
"Oh! don't attempt it, father," said Norah; "you have scarcely strength
to stand, and Mr Massey and the crew will do all that is necessary."
"Miss Norah is right, sir--stay where you are," said the mate. "I am
inclined to furl everything at once, so as to be prepared for the wind
when it reaches us; it is near the hurricane season in the West Indies,
and they are sometimes felt as far to the eastward as this. Should the
wind not prove as strong as I expect, we can easily make sail again."
"Do as you propose, Owen," said the captain; "you are always careful
and prudent."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the mate, and he sprang quickly on deck. "All
hands shorten sail!" he shouted. "Be smart, my lads, or we may have
old Harry Cane aboard us before we have time to open our weather
eyes."
He knew well that a joke would tend to inspirit the downcast crew,
most of whom were Irishmen--the Ouzel Galley belonging to Dublin,
though trading chiefly to the fair port of Waterford. She was a
deep-waisted vessel, with three masts, the foremast and mainmast
square-rigged, while the aftermast carried a long lateen-shaped sail
called the mizen, with a square topsail and topgallantsail. The mainsail
and foresail