Up The Baltic; Or, Young America in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, Page 3

  UP THE BALTIC; OR, YOUNG AMERICA IN NORWAY, SWEDEN, AND DENMARK.

  CHAPTER I.

  A WAIF ON THE NORTH SEA.

  "Boat on the weather bow, sir!" shouted the lookout on the top-gallantforecastle of the Young America.

  "Starboard!" replied Judson, the officer of the deck, as he discoveredthe boat, which was drifting into the track of the ship.

  "Starboard, sir!" responded the quartermaster in charge of the wheel.

  "Steady!" added the officer.

  "Steady, sir," repeated the quartermaster.

  By this time a crowd of young officers and seamen had leaped upon thetop-gallant forecastle, and into the weather rigging, to obtain a viewof the little boat, which, like a waif on the ocean, was drifting downtowards the coast of Norway. It contained only a single person, whowas either a dwarf or a boy, for he was small in stature. He lay upona seat near the stern of the boat, with his feet on the gunwale. Hewas either asleep or dead, for though the ship had approached withinhail, he neither moved nor made any sign. The wind was light from thesouthward, and the sea was quite calm.

  "What do you make of it, Ryder?" called the officer of the deck to thesecond master, who was on duty forward.

  "It is a flat-bottomed boat, half full of water, with a boy in it,"answered Ryder.

  "Hail him," added the officer of the deck.

  "Boat, ahoy!" shouted Ryder, at the top of his lungs.

  The person in the boat, boy or man, made no reply. Ryder repeated thehail, but with no better success. The officers and seamen held theirbreath with interest and excitement, for most of them had already cometo the conclusion that the occupant of the boat was dead. A feelingakin to horror crept through the minds of the more timid, as theygazed upon the immovable body in the dilapidated craft; for they feltthat they were in the presence of death, and to young people this isalways an impressive season. By this time the ship was within a shortdistance of the water-logged bateau. As the waif on the oceanexhibited no signs of life, the first lieutenant, in charge of thevessel, was in doubt as to what he should do.

  Though he knew that it was the first duty of a sailor to assist ahuman being in distress, he was not sure that the same effort wasrequired in behalf of one who had already ceased to live. CaptainCumberland, in command of the ship, who had been in the cabin whenthe excitement commenced, now appeared upon the quarter-deck, andrelieved the officer of the responsibility of the moment. Judsonreported the cause of the unwonted scene on deck, and as the captaindiscovered the little boat, just on the weather bow, he promptlydirected the ship to be hove to.

  "Man the main clew-garnets and buntlines!" shouted the firstlieutenant; and the hands sprang to their several stations. "Stand bytack and sheet."

  "All ready, sir," reported the first midshipman, who was on duty inthe waist.

  "Let go tack and sheet! Up mainsail!" continued Ryder.

  The well-trained crew promptly obeyed the several orders, and themainsail was hauled up in much less time than it takes to describe themanoeuvre.

  "Man the main braces!" proceeded the officer of the deck.

  "Ready, sir," reported the first midshipman.

  "Let go and haul."

  As the hands executed the last order; all the yards on the mainmastswung round towards the wind till the light breeze caught the sailsaback, and brought them against the mast. The effect was to deaden theheadway of the ship.

  "Avast bracing!" shouted the first lieutenant, when the yards on themainmast were about square.

  In a few moments the onward progress of the Young America was entirelychecked, and she lay motionless on the sea. There were four othervessels in the squadron, following the flag-ship, and each of them, inits turn, hove to, or came up into the wind.

  "Fourth cutters, clear away their boat!" continued the firstlieutenant, after he had received his order from the captain. "Mr.Messenger will take charge of the boat."

  The young officer indicated was the first midshipman, whose quarterwatch was then on duty.

  "All the fourth cutters!" piped the boatswain's mate, as Messengercrossed the deck to perform the duty assigned to him.

  "He's alive!" shouted a dozen of the idlers on the rail, who had notremoved their gaze from the waif in the small boat.

  "He isn't dead any more than I am!" added a juvenile tar, springinginto the main rigging, as if to demonstrate the amount of his ownvitality.

  The waif in the bateau had produced this sudden change of sentiment,and given this welcome relief to the crew of the Young America, byrising from his reclining posture, and standing up in the water at thebottom of his frail craft. He gazed with astonishment at the ship andthe other vessels of the squadron, and did not seem to realize wherehe was.

  "Avast, fourth cutters!" interposed the first lieutenant. "Belay,all!"

  If the waif was not dead, it was hardly necessary to lower a boat tosend to his relief; at least not till it appeared that he neededassistance.

  "Boat, ahoy!" shouted Ryder.

  "On board the ship," replied the waif, in tones not at all sepulchral.

  "What are you doing out here?" demanded the first lieutenant.

  "Nothing," replied the waif.

  "Will you come on board the ship?"

  "Yes, if you will let me," added the stranger, as he picked up abroken oar, which was floating in the water on the bottom of his boat.

  "Yes, come on board," answered the first lieutenant, prompted byCaptain Cumberland, who was quite as much interested in the adventureas any of his shipmates.

  The waif, using the broken oar as a paddle, worked his water-loggedcraft slowly towards the ship. The accommodation ladder was loweredfor his use, and in a few moments, with rather a heavy movement, asthough he was lame, or much exhausted, he climbed up the ladder, andstepped down upon the ship deck.

  "Fill away again!" said the captain to the first lieutenant, as acurious crowd began to gather around the stranger. Ryder gave thenecessary orders to brace up the main yards, and set the mainsailagain, and the ship was soon moving on her course towards the Naze ofNorway, as though nothing had occurred to interrupt her voyage.

  "What are you doing out here, in an open boat, out of sight of land?"asked Captain Cumberland, while the watch on deck were bracing up theyards.

  The waif looked at the commander of the Young America, and carefullyexamined him from head to foot. The elegant uniform of the captainseemed to produce a strong impression upon his mind, and he evidentlyregarded him as a person of no small consequence. He did not answerthe question put to him, seeming to be in doubt whether it was safeand proper for him to do so. Captain Cumberland was an exceedinglycomely-looking young gentleman, tall and well formed in person,graceful and dignified in his manners; and if he had been fifty yearsold, the stranger before him could not have been more awed andimpressed by his bearing. So far as his personal appearance wasconcerned, the waif appeared to have escaped from the rag-bag, and tohave been out long enough to soil his tatters with oil, tar, pitch,and dirt. Though his face and hands, as well as other parts of hisbody, were very dirty, his eye was bright, and, even seen through thedisguise of filth and rags that covered him, he was ratherprepossessing.

  "What is your name?" asked Captain Cumberland, finding his firstquestion was not likely to be answered.

  "Ole Amundsen," replied the stranger, pronouncing his first name intwo syllables.

  "Then you are not English."

  "No, sir. Be you?"

  "I am not; we are all Americans in this ship."

  "Americans!" exclaimed Ole, opening his eyes, while a smile beamedthrough the dirt on his face. "Are you going to America now?"

  "No; we are going up the Baltic now," replied Captain Cumberland; "butwe shall return to America in the course of a year or two."

  "Take me to America with you--will you?" continued Ole, earnestly. "Iam a sailor, and I will work for you all the time."

  "I don't know about that. You must speak to the principal."

  "Who's he
?"

  "Mr. Lowington. He is in the cabin now. Where do you belong, Ole?"

  "I don't belong anywhere," answered the waif, looking doubtfully abouthim.

  "Where were you born?"

  "In Norway, sir."

  "Then you are a Norwegian."

  "I reckon I am."

  "In what part of Norway were you born?"

  "In Bratsberg."

  "That's where all the brats come from," suggested Sheridan.

  "This one came from there, at any rate," added Mayley. "But where isBratsberg, and what is it?"

  "It is an _amt_, or province, in the south-eastern part of Norway."

  "I came from the town of Laurdal," said Ole.

  "Do the people there speak English as well as you do?" asked thecaptain.

  "No, sir. I used to be a _skydskarl_, and--"

  "A what?" demanded the crowd.

  "A _skydskarl_--a boy that goes on a cariole to take back the horses.I learned a little English from the Englishmen I rode with; and then Iwas in England almost a year."

  "But how came you out here, alone in an open boat?" asked the captain,returning to his first inquiry.

  Ole put one of his dirty fingers in his mouth, and looked stupid anduncommunicative. He glanced at the young officers around him, andthen over the rail at the sea.

  "Were you wrecked?" inquired the captain.

  "No, sir; not wrecked," replied Ole. "I never was wrecked in my life."

  "What are you doing out here, out of sight of land, in a boat halffull of water?" persisted the captain.

  "Doing nothing."

  "Did you get blown off from the shore?"

  "No, sir; a southerly wind wouldn't blow anybody off from the southcoast of Norway," answered Ole, with a smile which showed that he hadsome perception of things absurd in themselves.

  "You are no fool."

  "No, sir, I am not; and I don't think you are," added Ole, againglancing at Captain Cumberland from head to foot.

  The young tars all laughed at the waif's retort, and the captain wasnot a little nettled by the remark. He pressed Ole rather sharply forfurther information in regard to his antecedents; but the youth wassilent on this point. While the crowd were anxiously waiting for thestranger to declare himself more definitely, eight bells sounded atthe wheel, and were repeated on the large bell forward by the lookout.From each vessel of the fleet the bells struck at nearly the samemoment, and were followed by the pipe of the boatswain's whistle,which was the signal for changing the watch. As the officers of theship were obliged to attend to their various duties, Ole Amundsen wasleft alone with the captain. The waif still obstinately refused toexplain how he happened to be alone in a water-logged boat, asleep,and out of sight of land, though he promptly answered all otherquestions which were put to him.

  Mr. Lowington, the principal of the Academy Squadron, was in the maincabin, though he had been fully informed in regard to the events whichhad transpired on deck. The young commander despaired of his ownability to extort an explanation from the waif, and he concluded torefer the matter to the principal.

  "How long have you been in that boat?" asked Captain Cumberland, as heled the way towards the companion ladder.

  "Eighteen hours," answered Ole, after some hesitation, which, perhaps,was only to enable him to count up the hours.

  "Did you have anything to eat?"

  "No, sir."

  "Nothing?"

  "Not a thing."

  "Then you are hungry?"

  "I had a little supper last night--not much," continued Ole,apparently counting the seams in the deck, ashamed to acknowledge hishuman weakness.

  "You shall have something to eat at once."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Captain Cumberland therefore conducted the stranger to the steerage,instead of the main cabin, and directed one of the stewards to givehim his supper. The man set half a cold boiled ham on one of the messtables, with an abundant supply of bread and butter. Cutting off alarge slice of the ham, he placed it on the plate before Ole, whoseeyes opened wide with astonishment, and gleamed with pleasure. Withoutpaying much attention to the forms of civilization, the boy began todevour it, with the zeal of one who had not tasted food fortwenty-four hours. Captain Cumberland smiled, but with becomingdignity, at the greediness of the guest, before whom the whole sliceof ham and half a brick loaf disappeared almost in a twinkling. Thesteward appeared with a pot of coffee, in time to cut off anotherslice of ham, which the waif attacked with the same voracity asbefore. When it was consumed, and the young Norwegian glancedwistfully at the leg before him, as though his capacity for cold hamwas not yet exhausted, the captain began to consider whether he oughtnot to consult the surgeon of the ship before he permitted the waif toeat any more. But the steward, like a generous host, seemed to regardthe quantity eaten as complimentary testimony to the quality of theviands, and helped him to a third slice of the ham. He swallowed apint mug of coffee without stopping to breathe.

  As the third slice of ham began to wax small before the voraciousNorwegian, Captain Cumberland became really alarmed, and determinedto report at once to the principal and the surgeon for instructions.Knocking at the door of the main cabin, he was admitted. Dr. Winstockassured him there was no danger to the guest; he had not been withoutfood long enough to render it dangerous for him fully to satisfyhimself. The quantity eaten might make him uncomfortable, and evenslightly sick, but it would do the gourmand no real injury. Thecaptain returned to the steerage, where Ole had broken down on hisfourth slice of ham; but he regarded it wistfully, and seemed toregret his inability to eat any more.

  "That's good," said he, with emphasis. "It's the best supper I everate in my life. I like this ship; I like the grub; and I mean to go toAmerica in her."

  "We will see about that some other time; but if you don't tell us howyou happened to be off here, I am afraid we can do nothing for you,"replied the captain. "If you feel better now, we will go and see theprincipal."

  "Who's he?" asked Ole.

  "Mr. Lowington. You must tell him how you happened to be in that leakyboat."

  "Perhaps I will. I don't know," added Ole, doubtfully, as he followedthe commander into the main cabin.

  Captain Cumberland explained to the principal the circumstances underwhich Ole had come on board, and that he declined to say anything inregard to the strange situation in which he had been discovered.

  "Is the captain here?" asked the midshipman of the watch, at thesteerage door.

  "Yes," replied Captain Cumberland.

  "Mr. Lincoln sent me down to report a light on the lee bow, sir."

  "Very well. Where is Mr. Beckwith?"

  "In the cabin, sir."

  The captain left the main cabin, and entered the after cabin, where hefound Beckwith, the first master, attended by the second and third,examining the large chart of the North Sea.

  "Light on the lee bow, sir," said the first master.

  "Do you make it out?"

  "Yes; we are all right to the breadth of a hair," added the master,delighted to find that his calculations had proved to be entirelycorrect. "It is Egero Light, and we are about fifty miles from theNaze of Norway. We are making about four knots, and if the breezeholds, we ought to see Gunnarshoug Light by one o'clock."

  Captain Cumberland went on deck to see the light reported. Though itwas half past eight, the sun had but just set, and the light, eighteenmiles distant, could be distinctly seen. It created a great deal ofexcitement and enthusiasm among the young officers and seamen, who hadread enough about Norway to be desirous of seeing it. For weeks theyoung gentlemen on board the ship had been talking of Norway, andreading up all the books in the library relating to the country andits people. They had read with interest the accounts of the varioustravellers who had visited it, including Ross Brown, in Harper'sMonthly, and Bayard Taylor, and had studied Harper, Murray, Bradshaw,and other Guides on the subject. The more inquiring students had readthe history of Norway, and were well prepared to appreciate
a shortvisit to this interesting region.

  They had just come from the United States, having sailed in the latterpart of March. The squadron had had a fair passage, and the studentshoped to be in Christiansand by the first day of May; and now nothingless than a dead calm for forty-eight hours could disappoint theirhopes. Five years before, the Young America and the Josephine, herconsort, had cruised in the waters of Europe, and returned to Americain the autumn. It had been the intention of the principal to makeanother voyage the next year, go up the Baltic, and winter in theMediterranean; but the war of 1866 induced him to change his plans.Various circumstances had postponed the cruise until 1870, when it wasactually commenced.

  The Young America was the first, and for more than a year the only,vessel belonging to the Academy. The Josephine, a topsail schooner,had been added the second year; and now the Tritonia, a vessel of thesame size and rig, was on her first voyage. The three vessels of thesquadron were officered and manned by the students of the Academy. Ason the first cruise, the offices were the rewards of merit bestowedupon the faithful and energetic pupils. The highest number of meritsgave the highest office, and so on through the several grades inthe cabin, and the petty offices in the steerage. The routine anddiscipline of the squadron were substantially the same as described inthe first series of these volumes, though some changes had been made,as further experience suggested. Instead of quarterly, as before, theoffices were given out every month. Captains were not retired after asingle term, as formerly, but were obliged to accept whatever rank andposition they earned, like other students.

  There was no change from one vessel to another, except at the end of aschool year, or with the permission of the principal. The ship had sixinstructors, three of whom, however, lectured to all the students inthe squadron, and each of the smaller vessels had two teachers.Mr. Lowington was still the principal. He was the founder of theinstitution; and his high moral and religious principles, his love ofjustice, as well as his skill, firmness, and prudence, had made it asuccess in spite of the many obstacles which continually confrontedit. As a considerable portion of the students in the squadron werethe spoiled sons of rich men, who had set at defiance the rules ofcolleges and academies on shore, it required a remarkable combinationof attributes to fit a gentleman for the difficult and trying positionhe occupied.

  Mr. Fluxion was the first vice-principal in charge of the Josephine.He was a thorough seaman, a good disciplinarian, and a capitalteacher; but he lacked some of the high attributes of characterwhich distinguished the principal. If any man was fit to succeed Mr.Lowington in his responsible position, it was Mr. Fluxion; but it wasdoubtful whether, under his sole administration, the institution couldbe an entire success. His love of discipline, and his energetic mannerof dealing with delinquents, would probably have increased the numberof "rows," mutinies, and runaways.

  The second vice-principal, in charge of the Tritonia, was Mr. Tompion,who, like his two superiors in rank, had formerly been an officer ofthe navy. Though he was a good sailor, and a good disciplinarian, helacked that which a teacher needs most--a hearty sympathy with youngpeople.

  The principal and the two vice-principals were instructors inmathematics and navigation in their respective vessels. Mr. Lowingtonhad undertaken this task himself, because he felt the necessity ofcoming more in contact with the student than his position as mereprincipal required. It tended to promote friendly relations betweenthe governor and the governed, by creating a greater sympathy betweenthem.

  The Rev. Mr. Agneau still served as chaplain. In port, and at sea whenthe weather would permit, two services were held in the steerage everySunday, which were attended, at anchor, by the crew of all the vessels.Prayers were said morning and evening, in the ship by the chaplain, inthe schooners by the vice-principal or one of the instructors.

  Dr. Winstock was the instructor in natural philosophy and chemistry,as well as surgeon and sanitary director. He was a good and true man,and generally popular among the students. Each vessel had an adultboatswain and a carpenter, and the ship a sailmaker, to perform suchwork as the students could not do, and to instruct them in the detailsof practical seamanship.

  After the lapse of five years, hardly a student remained of those whohad cruised in the ship or her consort during the first voyage. But inaddition to the three vessels which properly constituted the squadron,there were two yachts, each of one hundred and twenty tons. They werefore-and-aft schooners, of beautiful model, and entirely new. The oneon the weather wing of the fleet was the Grace, Captain Paul Kendall,whose lady and two friends were in the cabin. Abreast of her sailedthe Feodora, Captain Robert Shuffles, whose wife was also with him.Each of these yachts had a first and second officer, and a crew oftwenty men, with the necessary complement of cooks and stewards. Theywere part of the fleet, but not of the Academy Squadron.