Kathleen Of The Outer Banks

by Capt. Gardner Martin Kelley

  Cappi called Montoya to signal the schooner to bring in the yawl and stand by. There was no waiting at the dock. The big mirror and its precious cargo were put aboard and the yawl was away. She was awakening as the men got her into Cappi’s bunk. Chips went about to widen her bunk. The Captain got his ship on course for New York.

  Chapter 16

  Snug Aboard

  There was good westerly wind. The Captain of the schooner, “LIZZIE MAE” took advantage of it to stay ahead of the predicted hurricane. The storm swept over Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. The schooner was unloaded and ready to head back south. She was tied up for the night at the dead schooners. The late November wind from the North was cold.

  Svenska was making the best she could of her misfortune. Chips had widened her bunk. Her head was now facing aft. She could see and wave to her husband as he manned his ship. Chips no longer took a trick at the wheel. He tended out on his little girl until her lover came to her. There would be no more dancing. Her slippers hung from a hook that Chips had installed on a bulkhead.

  Tied up at the old schooner anchorage Cappi called Emery and Judd. “You two take the yawl, check with the chandler for a possible load. If there is nothing, as I expect, just leave our list of supplies. You’ll pick them up on your way back.” “Aye, Skipper we are on our way,” both men said.

  On this trip Cappi and the two had talked about “Sailor’s Snug Harbor.” The two had old shipmates and friends there. The two were off to find if two disgruntled sailormen wanted to come aboard the “LIZZIE MAE” for more sailing. Old sailors were not all dead yet.

  The yawl boat with supplies for the “LIZZIE MAE” returned at dusk. There were two happy men aboard with Judd and Emery. Both were a few years younger, the Captain thought, than Judd and Emery. Both men appeared robust and said that though they drank booze now and then, it was no problem.

  They signed into the log and helped nest the yawl. The supplies were off loaded and stored. The supper call was heard from the cook. It almost looked like old times with so many seated at the galley table.

  The schooner caught the fair tide at daylight. She was tacking into a southeast wind by Manasquan Inlet. The new men were Merton Skilling called “Skilly” and Ed O’Keefe was Ed. They were separated to share the watch. Skilly with Judd and Ed was with Emery. It worked out well, no one got too tired. At midnight the wind got warmer and out of the southwest. The “LIZZIE MAE” made excellent time. Three weeks later a new load was being put aboard at molasses harbor.

  Svenska wanted to be brought up to enjoy a look around and to wave at the children. She hurt and though she tried to keep it quiet, she screamed. Cappi and Chips agreed that this was not the thing to do.

  The captain went back to supervise the loading. Chips went to work at pleasing Svenska. The mirror was again taken from its place against the bulkhead. It was of no use to her there anymore. The old ship carpenter installed it where she could see along the deck.

  With Svenska snug aboard and two new men and a cook everything was going nicely. She waved to Cappi and sometimes sang out to him. The loading was completed. The Captain was waiting only for a few more inches of rising tide. With her view through the recently installed mirror she saw that the swimmers were diving, coming aboard and over again. Two of the brown skin beauties were pausing alongside of Cappi. They were very shapely. Svenska remembered the two because they were always giggling and talking about men.

  Cappi had his work done. He was dressed only in pants and a shirt because of the heat. She saw him pull off the shirt and follow the bigger of the girls into the water. Her mind conjured up thought of what could be happening? Her man and this dusky maiden were together in the water out of sight under the hull. She saw red and began to scream. She kept screaming. Chips was forward getting some well-deserved sleep. Cappi was first at her side. She tore at him and hit her little fists toward his face. He held them there until Chips arrived. Chips saw the wildness of her eyes. He thought that she had moved to hurt her spinal cord. Cappi had not given her a hypodermic shot for some time. He gave her one now. She settled down and went to sleep.

  Svenska woke up in the dark. She heard Cappi say, “I swam along the bottom. We will have to beach the schooner soon to clean her bottom.” The words struck her like a brick. Her temper had led her to assume he dove to go swimming with the girl. Cappi’s voice continued in the darkness, “The barnacles form quicker in this warmer water.”

  She kept quiet, this needed much thinking over. The whole night passed with her recriminating herself. She knew that she had been wrong in not one, but both attacks. She could have killed the love of her life, her Prince Charming.

  Chips brought her breakfast and tended to her needs. It was hard to believe that his old calloused hands could be so gentle with her. He left with the dishes. Four bells (ten A.M.) the wind failed. Her Cappi placed the wheel in beckets and came to visit with her. “So my girl is feeling better today?” he asked. “I saw you dive over the rail in the mirror. I thought you were swimming and doing things with her. I was so jealous I wanted to hurt you.” She lifted the shot gun from the folds of the sheet alongside of her. Cappi saw her eyes, the sweat stood out on his brow. Was this how it was going to end? He thought of how he had refused to get serious with the promiscuous girls of his youth. They visited him aboard but were shooed away. He knew that he would find his great love and he had, she was his love.

  She raised the gun pulled the trigger and fired. The concussion in the small room was like the roar of a cannon. Cappi was not hit. His eyes followed along past the barrel to where her precious mirror sat. The bird shot pellets had finished it as a mirror. Svenska handed him the gun to put away. “That mirror will no longer give me vision along the deck. My world from now on is this cabin and a sight of you at the wheel. This is my love nest with you for the rest of my life. You are young and have desires of a healthy young man. I can no longer fulfill that need. What happens outside of this cabin will be of no concern of mine. My love is here with you.” Cappi took her in his strong arms. He squeezed her until he thought she would break. There was no wildness only peace and contentment showed in her blue eyes. “You foolish girl, don’t you realize that I only have love for you?” Chips came to see what he could do to help. Chips took the gun shot mirror and put it away. He would inform the crew that all was well. A wind ruffled the sails, the Captain hurried to his duty.

  The schooner was just making headway at dusk. Her heart soared to the topsails after she heard Cappi say that, this from Cappi made Chips happy. He had thought all along that her husband had been too harsh, or at least for too long a time. He went for his fiddle and a drink of his rum. This time there would be no dancing. He played songs that she could sing with them. He and the men all sat aft near or around the wheel where she could see them and they could see her. It got dark and Cappi lit the two lamps.

  Though the men could no longer see her blue eyes or face, the long tresses of light hair was still seen. Chips noticed that she was keeping time to the music with a spoon from her dish tray. A slight shower followed by wind, broke up the party.

  The next day Chips had Judd go up the rigging and remove her no longer used stand. He cleaned it of tar, sanded and varnished it. Next time there was music she would keep time on it to her hearts content.

  The rest of the trip to New York was uneventful and with wind, there was no gathering aft. There was however the joy to Cappi of seeing her sitting in her bunk. She faced aft and could and did wave to him at the wheel. Her white hair was now always combed to the front and tied to stay there with ribbons. He often sang, “I will take you home Kathleen” to her and then point to where she sat. Yes he had brought her to her home, she was his Kathleen.

  Sometimes when the sunshine was close but not quite into the cabin, he would run a few degrees off course. She has proved the wildness was gone and she liked the sunshine a lot.

  When the sa
ils started to luff he would bring the vessel to her correct course. Every little breeze in the foretops seemed to murmur Kathleen.

  While unloading the schooner, the Captain hailed a bum boat that was passing. He ordered fresh supplies to be delivered to the “LIZZIE MAE” at the old schooner anchorage that evening. Without top prices to the ship chandler, Cappi was not getting the schooner any more loads. A fair wind brought the schooner “LIZZIE MAE” alongside the old “Albatross” before the supplies arrived.

  Judd and the cook went aboard to find wood for the old shipmate stove and the forecastle pot belly. The old schooner had given up and had sunk to rest on bottom. Judd searched the holds for wood. In the forward hole still out of water were bags of coal. A half ton at least and stored in a built bin was more.

  The rest of the afternoon the crew carried coal. Chips was pressed into action rebuilding the coal bin aboard the “LIZZIE MAE”. There was plenty of old wood in the hold for kindling. With this and the coal the “LIZZIE MAE” would have fuel for its stoves for a long time.

  The bum boat arrived and the supplies were aboard. Cappi tossed a line. The boat towed the schooner clear of the old schooners. The wind and tide were favorable. Ambrose Channel Lightship was dropped astern. All was well aboard the Maine coastal schooner the “LIZZIE MAE”.

  Chapter 17

  The Careen

  The captain kept a close watch on the glass, the Barometer. He did not intend that a storm would catch the schooner grounded out. The spot he had picked was a sand spit of island that bared at most low tides. When getting close to the vicinity the yawl boat was used. It was necessary to arrive as the tide started its ebb. The sails were down and furled. The yawl eased the schooner over the covered sand until she grounded.

  An anchor was run off to port and dropped. The anchor rode bite was hoisted to a snatch block at the cross tree. The donkey engine took up a strain to heel the schooner to port. Two men held lines fore and aft on the yawl to hold her close. Two in the yawl scraped and scrubbed as the tide receded. Later on the yawl grounded and the work went on while the crew stood in the water. Two hours of drying was all that was allowed. The men raced the incoming tide to get the copper colored bottom paint on. This took some doing. There was some slapping of paint. The vessel was light. The above water line would be painted from the yawl.

  The men rested until the full height of the tide. The anchor rode was slacked to shift the anchor to starboard. As the schooner grounded the strain pulled the ship that way. It was the second low tide before this side was ready. A worm spot was found and had to be tended to.

  Marine worms a native of warm water, not of the cold water off New England, had chewed their way into the keel. Hot iron dug the place clean then hot tar was painted on. To cover the bottom of the keel it was necessary to remove the sand around it. The bilge strake supported the vessel. This was why the anchor had been run out to lean the vessel over. With the tar covering, there should be no more worm penetration for six to eight months.

  The snatch block was lowered, the kedge anchor was astern. The schooner floated with the high tide. The donkey engine pulled the schooner to deep water. The anchor was stowed as well as the yawl boat. A mild northwester filled the sails. Molasses harbor was the next stop.

  With a clean newly painted bottom the speed was almost two knots faster for the amount of wind. Twenty one days later the schooner was again being off loaded in New York.

  The turnaround was quick, with an ebbing tide and fair wind no stop was made at the old schooners. Chips was worried, “Captain, I don’t know what to do? She isn’t getting stronger, seems as though she has willed herself to die. I have heard this of natives of the islands, but not white people.” “Chips, my old friend, she has almost told me as much. She thinks that I will be better off without her, said Cappi.

  Chapter 18

  A Loss to the Whole Wide World

  “To think that her love is so great that she is willing to die that I may live,” Cappi said to his oldest friend. “Greater love baths no man than that he lays down his life for another.” Chips said, repeating something that he had read many years ago. “I want her to stay with us, every day she is like a ray of sunshine. It tears my heart apart seeing her just sitting there, then she waves or sings out to me. I want her there when I go below, but my friend, is it fair to her? She was so wholesome, so vigorous and so full of life. Is it fair to have her stay, each day must seem a life time. Do I love her enough to let her go?” He was asking himself as well as Chips.

  The eight bells rang for the change of watch and the noon lunch time. Chips went to the galley for her tray of food. The Captain had just sat down to eat when he heard a loud shout from Chips. He sprang to his feet and hit the deck running. He already feared for his companion in this life. Chips said nary a word as he held up her white but stained with blood wrists. She had hidden the sliced wrists under the cover sheet. The two men did not think that there was a life here.

  If there was a breath of hope they would work till they dropped trying to revive her. There was no pulse that Cappi could detect but he bound the other wrist as Chips relinquished it to him. Going quickly to the galley Chips brought back sweetened condensed milk diluted with warm water. He then Cappi took turns feeding small spoonful’s of the life giving (they hoped) fluid into the tiny mouth. The feeding had to be very slow as there was no sign of swallowing and the fluid must be allowed to simply lower itself as by gravity.

  Cappi was giving thought of heading for the nearest port and a hospital. The sudden squall stopped all such thoughts, the “LIZZIE MAE” under reefed sails ran before the wind. Chips tended to his little girl while the Captain looked to the safety of his ship. It was just before noon the next day with the storm abating that Chips came to the wheel to report. She had blinked her eyes. Her breath was noticeable now-however slight. He showed crossed fingers to Cappi and went back to her.

  The Captain put the ship back on a course to continue on their way and then turned the wheel over to Judd. He went below to note the slight but major change of the patient. She must get well. He would see that no such thing happened again.

  There was noticeable movement as she swallowed the spoonfuls of liquid. There was no color in the pale white cheeks. Still there was a difference somehow in its tone.

  After another night of constant vigil daylight came at last. With the dawn came a glad sight to the watchers. Her eyes were open. They were not the flashing brightness of the past but that could come later, that they had opened was enough for now. She drank more of the condensed milk and a little weak tea and dropped off into a sound sleep.

  It was two days later that she uttered her first words. “I love you both for my care.” Cappi put his finger to his lip indicating that she was not to use her strength to talk. It would be a long time for full recovery, but she was coming along. Both men explained to her that she must never again attempt such a thing and any way Chips would see to that in his constant supervision.

  Meanwhile the Captain had his ship to run. The wind was non-existent at Ambrose Channel. The schooner accepted the line from a tug boat inbound to the refinery.

  The yawl boat brought the “LIZZIE MAE” to alongside of the old sailing ships at noon. The yawl was already in the water. The Captain motored to the battery dock to check once more for a paying load for Cuba. No luck though.

  Chapter 19

  A New Member of the Crew

  Doctor Taylor was a small man with a large load of John Barleycorn. He had been much heavier and with a portly belly. In the last year or so, he had not eating properly. Bouts with liquor had cost him that and his paying practice as a surgeon. The loss of a little girl patient had hurt his pride and confidence. Now due to frequent bouts with the bottle his practice was reduced to tending out on the sick prostitutes of Canal Street and the Bowery.

  He wobbled along toward the float landing where Cappi was about to
board his yawl boat to return to the schooner. The money paid to the doctor by his last patient had already been delved into. He took another large swallow as he moved along. Replacing the bottle to his pocket he did not notice the trio converging on him.

  Cappi looked up to see the motley three working their way to the drunken man. He eyed the situation and noted the black bag of a doctor as the older man hugged it to his chest in an effort to protect his last prized possession.

  The thugs had moved close, but so had Cappi. He had grabbed an oar from the closest dingy and ran up the short gangway. The thick butt of the oar landed on a head without hair. The culprit fell clear and went to his knees on the concrete sidewalks. His knife fell from his hand. The oar was reversed quickly and the blade struck hard into the throat of the one with a bandanna tied around his head.

  The third member of the punk thugs, a huge brown boy, was great at hitting on helpless victims. He wanted no part of a staff (the oar) welding assailant. He took off letting his legs take care of his body.

  The older man was slow to react from the attack. Cappi grabbed his small form around the middle as his legs were beginning to buckle. He backed toward the gangway to the float while keeping an eye out for trouble from the downed punks. He had the man under his left arm and still held the oar ready for action with his right hand. The hat had fallen off and a pasty white dome shown above the black whiskers and around the ears patch of thick hair. He looked much older with the hat missing. “We will fit him into a sailor hat,” thought Cappi as he lowered him into the yawl boat. His passenger was sleeping off his hang over and the captain let him sleep as the yawl was hoisted into the davits astern. The tide was ebbing out and there was fair wind for steerage. The “LIZZIE MAE” was cast loose from the old ships.