OUT OF LOUCIL., BBHB OUT OF GLOUCESTER That's one end of the stays' 1 halliards." OUT OF GLOUCESTER BY JAMES B. CONNOLLY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK:::::::::::::::::i9o6 COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published, October, igoa TROW DIRECTORY MINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS PAGE A CHASE OVERNIGHT i ON THE ECHO o* THE MORN 31 FROM REYKJAVIK TO GLOUCESTER 69 A FISHERMAN OF COSTLA 93 TOMMIE OHLSEN'S WESTERN PASSAGE . . . .131 CLANCY . 191 ILLUSTRATIONS "That's one end of the stays' 1 halyards" . . Frontispiece FACING She's an able, handsome lady, PAGE And she's go-o-ing home 10 "I cuts away the starboard oar below" . . . . 58 The "Crow's Nest" 72 Lcapin' from the top of one sea to the top of another . 86 " Pole her off to the end of the quay" 104 "Look across now," said Gerald, "that's Arran you see ahead " no "Any worse than the one you got on now?" . .262 A CHASE OVERNIGHT Lights out and southern courses, Let her head come 'round, Devil take the British forces Here's the Echo, homeward bound. She left Egg Isle at sunset, And to Le Have at dawn A-sailin* down the wind Came the Echo o' the Morn. Two cutters and a cruiser Chased the Echo on her way They said : " She can't get by us, We'll get her in the Bay." (From the ballad of " The Echo o' the Morn."*} A Chase Overnight THE Gloucester seining fleet had been cruis- ing off Georges Bank, when one of those New England north-easters came swooping down on them. Thereupon, as nothing was to be gained by hanging on (you cannot set for mack- erel in a gale), every vessel in the fleet made fast its dory in the waist, looked to the painter of the seine-boat astern, and then seventy or eighty seiners took on a beautiful slant and made a roar- ing regatta of it to Provincetown, the nearest port of refuge. In the early morning hours this gale had struck in on Georges. It was somewhere along in the middle of the afternoon when the first of the fleet showed their noses past the little light-house that marks the entrance to the harbor of Province- town. One after the other they came leaping past the light. It was a quick look to see how things lay, a haul over for one last leg, a rush across the harbor, a shoot into the wind, and then, after the fashion of tired gulls with wet 3 A Chase Overnight wings, a lowering of -sodde'n sails and a thankful settling into handy anchorages. By dusk of this stormy day most of the sein- ing fleet was safely in. Of this Provincetown was soon made aware, for among these ten or twelve hundred robust fishermen there had to be the inevitable boisterous ' percentage with some tor- menting energy to work off and with no desire to be hushed. Such started in at sundown ; and from then on, until dawn of next morning in many cases, they did what they could to keep that staid hamlet from drifting into a too early sleep. But, after all, only a small number of the fisher- men were of the riotous kind. The greater part, indeed, were sensible men, who preferred to stay aboard their own vessel for the evening, or to drop over and see an old shipmate or two on some other craft near by. These knew of old the delights of a fo'c's'le night in a snug harbor, with no watch to keep, no work to do ; where you have only to talk or listen, to " smoke up " and " mug up " ; to keep your pipe going and to help yourself to hot coffee off the stove and good grub out of the locker ; to enjoy yourself to the utmost in that region of bliss, where there is no hurry and all things are dry ; to let your soul simmer in that delicious atmosphere of tuneful 4 A Chase Overnight song, stirring story, and reflective blue smoke ; to harken to the wailing of the winds without and to know, in delightful, reposeful security no less, that this time they are wailing for somebody else. These deep-sea fishermen, in their heartiness of hospitality, are the chosen of the Lord. With them, the best in the locker is ever ready for the caller, be he castaway stranger, chance acquaint- ance, or cherished friend. Of the ways of their mates all fishermen are, of course, aware. And so, when two, who had been mildly celebrating ashore, dropped into their dory at the end of a long, planked dock, and set out in the direction of the harbor lights in Provincetown this night, it is likely that they were anticipating an agreeable finish to their evening. It was only midnight and there were yet some cheering hours to sun-up, when, by skippers' orders, the seining fleet would be standing out to sea again. One of these two was a big man, " able-look- ing," a fisherman would have said ; the build of the other signified less. The big man was easily in command. He sat on the after thwart, set the stroke, directed all movements, and attended to the hailing. It was well he owned a voice of rare power ; one of only moderate force would have succumbed early to the opposition of the shriek- ing gale and the reluctance of comfortable people 5 A Chase Overnight below to come up and answer bothersome ques- tions. They were looking, it would seem, for that reliable craft, the William Walker, which all men should know by her new-painted green sides, with gold stripe along the run, white mast-heads, and blue seine-boat towing. But a description dealing merely in color is but a poor guide at night, as many, many disturbed crews explained. When the two left the long dock, the position of the William Walker had been plainly defined. " No'west by nothe about ; and ten minutes steady rowin' about." Could anything be clearer ? So, when the two set out, their confi- dence had been a perfect thing. The big man, indeed, taking account of the blackness, had said : " We don't even need to get near enough to see her, Martin. Just a smell of her and we'll know her " which was possibly true, but unfortu- nately, as was explained later, the wind was off shore that night. So round and round they rowed. The big man threw his voice into the recesses of comfort- able bunks, and from these, wrathful men, who desired not to be disturbed, had to climb out and ascend to rain-swept decks, to answer curi- ous questions as to the location of a lively schoon- er, the William Walker by name, with green- 6 A Chase Overnight painted sides and gold stripe along the run, with white mast-heads, and blue seine-boat towing. The searchers were treated to some plain lan- guage after the first round of their uncertain route, notably from over the rails of that bunch of fine, able fishermen, the Eliza Parkhurst, the Norumbega, the Grayling, the Harry Belden, the Richard Wainright, all of Gloucester, and par- ticularly when they disturbed the slumbers of those redoubtable old hookers, the Herald of the Morning and the Good Will to Men, also of Gloucester, from where, it is said, they hailed as privateersmen in their palmy days. The two men in the dory had made the fleet pretty well acquainted with the distinguishing marks of their vessel, with the green-painted sides and the gold stripe along the run, with the white mast-heads and the blue seine-boat towing, but to no effect ; and many times had they robustly hailed, " Aho-oy the Wil-1-liam Walker/' but no William Walker rose up to greet them from out of the darkness of the night. It was while they were waiting for the anathe- matic responses from the deck of the Good Will to Men (it was the third series from her deck), waiting for the voice of wrath to die down the wind, that the big man came to a final decision. Resting dejectedly on his oars, the big man 7 A Chase Overnight said: cc Seventy-odd seiners here and every blessed one of 'em with a riding-light up, and which is ours, Martin ? It's as bad as the candles and the lookin'-glasses goin' 'round, ain't it ? Look a.': em." " Yes, 'tis kind of puzzlin'. What'll we do now ? " " Do ? We'll go aboard the next vessel we find awake. We made a good try and even the skipper couldn't kick now. Pick out any one where there's a light below and we'll go aboard." " Well, there's a fellow to wind'ard. I can't see onto her deck from here, but they must have a light below, for they're noisy enough for a christening. Listen to 'em." "Yes. What's that they're singin' ? Catch it?" " Wait ; they'll start again. There, hear it ? " Being to the leeward of the vessel indicated, the words came clearly enough to the men in the dory when they stopped rowing for a stroke or two. She's the schooner Lucy Foster, She's a seiner out of Gloucester, She's an able, handsome lady, She can go. The song seemed to inspire the big man. He at once set a stroke that made his dory mate pant. He explained by saying, " Martin, boy, but I must get into that. I don't know who they are, 3 A Chase Overnight but I used to be seine-heaver on the Lucy. Hit her up." He put his broad back into the row- ing and hummed the words while the chorus went on : The way she'll walk to wind'ard, You would think that nothing hindered, She's an able, handsome lady, See her go. That brought them to the side of the vessel. The big man was over the rail with a vault and a " Look to the painter, you, Martin." Onward went the fo'c's'le choir : For She can sail to set you crazy, Not a timber in her's lazy, She's the handsome Lucy Foster And she's go-o-ing home. The big man was down the gangway in time to swell the great tide that surged up to all throats for that last line. "And she's go-o-ing home," he roared. " That was the girl, the Lucy. Hulloh, Johnnie Hardy ! When'd you get in? Hulloh, Dannie hulloh, Mike hulloh, Ezra hulloh, everybody. Drive her again, boys. Drive her now." He swirled his great arm through the thick smoke by way of marking time, and the whole fo'c's'le, waving pipes or mugs to add emphasis, followed him with 9 A Chase Overnight extreme unction. Men sitting on lockers, men lounging in bunks, men standing by the galley stove, made a stop in their eating, drinking, or smoking, to add vigor to the chant : When she swings the main boom over And she feels the wind abaft, The way she'll walk to Gloucester'll Make a steamer look a raft. " Hurroo, fellows ! Drive her ! Here's the best part of it. Now ! Oh, the Lucy's left the ground, And there's nothing standing 'round Can hold the Lucy Foster When the Lucy's homeward bound.