The Wireless Operator—With the U. S. Coast Guard/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII
A Tramp of the Seas
IMMEDIATELY Henry made his way to the captain’s cabin again. He handed a copy of the despatch to the commander.
“Thank you,’ said Captain Hardwick. Glancing at the message, he muttered his approval. Just then the chief engineer, whom the commander had summoned, came into the cabin.
“Mr. Farley,” said the commander, “there’s a tramp a little farther up the coast that just sent us a wireless for a doctor. Mate’s sick. We've told her where to meet us. It will take several hours to reach her. We’re making about twelve knots, aren’t we? Suppose you push her up to top speed, fifteen knots. We can slow down again after the doctor has seen the sick man.”
“Very well, sir.” And the chief engineer withdrew.
At once the captain went to the chart-room. Lieutenant Hill was on duty. Together they figured out the new course and gave the direction to the helmsman, who brought the ship about. Meantime the vibration of the ship became more noticeable, and the grinding noise of her machin-ery grew louder. She began to forge ahead faster and faster. Soon she was throwing up a big bow wave and plunging through the seas at a fast pace.
Although the wind had abated and the seas were greatly lessened, the Iroquois rolled more than she had rolled before, even when the wind was at its worst. That was because the ship was now running almost in the trough of the seas, whereas during the trip up the Gulf Stream both wind and seas had been almost dead astern.
For a time Henry stood on the bridge, watching the clear and sparkling sea. The quarter-master, Mr. Andrews, was also on watch, with the lieutenant. Henry was much drawn to the quartermaster. He was a young fellow not many years older than Henry himself. He had a fine fresh face, and his eye was alight with ambition. His every movement suggested strength and energy and determination. As the ship’s bell struck the hour, he said: “I must look at the log. Would you like to come with me?”
“Sure,” said Henry, and the two slipped down the ladder to the deck and skipped aft. Henry was getting his sea-legs fast.
Attached to the taffrail Henry saw the log the captain had described to him. It appeared to be merely a long piece of heavy twine, trailing behind the ship. But it was revolving fast. Henry looked over the rail at the little dials that registered the revolutions.
“We're going a bit faster,” said the quartermaster.
“Yes,” replied Henry. “The captain has put her under full speed.” And as they returned to the bridge Henry asked, “How do you like life at sea?”
“First rate,” said the quartermaster. “There is always something to do, the pay is good, and there are opportunities for advancement. The captain is teaching me navigation, and some day I may be able to qualify as an officer in the merchant marine. He’s a grand man, is the captain.”
“I believe it,” said Henry. “He sure has been fine to me.”
“He is to everybody who acts right. But, oh boy! You want to look out for him if you don’t do what’s right.”
The ship rushed on. After a long time the quartermaster said, “Do you know where we are to meet that tramp?”
“Yes,” said Henry. “At sixty-seven west, forty-two north.”
The two stepped into the chart-room and looked at the marks on the chart. “We ought to sight her within a few minutes,” remarked the quartermaster.
“May I go up in the crow’s-nest and look for her?” asked Henry.
“Certainly, but be careful. If you aren’t used to climbing aloft, you might get a nasty fall. Take these glasses, but be careful of them.”
Henry slipped the binoculars into the pocket of his coat, buttoned that garment tight, and started up the forward mast. He soon found that the quartermaster had told the truth. The rolling of the ship had seemed bad enough on the deck, but up the mast it seemed a hundred times worse, and the higher Henry went, the more violently the ship seemed to roll.
In a sense Henry was right. His position was now like that of an inverted pendulum. When the ship rolled to one side, he was carried far out by the mast, until at times his body hung over the open sea, beyond the side of the ship. Then as the ship righted and rolled in the opposite direction, Henry’s body shot through a wide are and out over the other side of the vessel, for the ship was rolling at times at an angle of more than twenty degrees. At the first big roll Henry was almost frightened. He felt himself going, going, going, and he was sure the mast was going to give way and go on over with him, pitching him into the briny deep. But just when he was sure the Iroquois must be turning over, she righted herself with a snap like the lash of a whip. Henry’s grasp was almost broken. He could hardly keep his feet on the ladder-rungs, either. Tightening his grip, he mounted upward as fast as he could, and presently found himself safe in the crow’s-nest. He sighed with relief. As long as the mast stood, he knew he was safe here.
Intently now he swept the northern horizon with his glasses. Soon he noticed a ship, but a moment’s study showed him it was heading out to sea. Astern of her he soon saw another vessel. That one, too, was outward bound. But when he brought his glasses farther around toward land, he espied a steamer heading inward. He studied her intently. He thought she was sailing in a long diagonal, as though to cross the course of the Iroquois. For fifteen minutes he watched her. By this time both ships had traveled some miles, and the strange ship was much nearer. Her great bow wave showed she was being driven hard. There could be no doubt as to her course being diagonal with their own. The men on the bridge could now see her, too, so Henry pocketed his glasses and carefully climbed down again.
“I guess that’s the Viking,” said the quartermaster. Henry was surprised to find how little could yet be seen of the ship from the bridge.
“Couldn’t we find out by wireless?” asked Henry.
“Sure. We can ask Sparks to give ’em a call.”
“I’ll do it,” said Henry, and he skipped down to the wireless shack. He never overlooked any opportunity to see the wireless man work his key.
At Henry’s request, the wireless man gladly agreed to call the Viking. He threw over his switch and pressed the key, and Henry sat fascinated as he saw the bright flashes leap and crackle with the pressure of the key.
“WXY—WXY—WXY—de—NTE,” called the operator.
Promptly came the response, “NTE—NTE—NTE—de—WXY—K.”
“Can you see anything of the Iroquois?” asked Mr. Sharp. “We see a big freighter off our starboard bow, but don’t know if she is the Viking. Please give us your bearing on Iroquois. Will stand by for reply.”
Presently came an answer. “Can see you plainly. Bearing is south three-quarters east. You are only four or five miles distant.”
“That’s the Viking over there, without question,” said the wireless man as he shut off his power. “Her bearing from us is exactly the opposite of our bearing from her. That would make it north three-quarters west. Take a look at the chart and you will see how it is.”
Henry ran to the chart-room and laid a ruler along the course indicated. It pointed straight from the position of the Iroquois in the direction of the oncoming tramp. Then Henry stepped to the bridge.
Rapidly now the two steamships drew nearer, converging toward a common point. As they approached closely enough for each to examine the other well, the sailors on the Iroquois crowded to the forward rail, while a row of sailors could be seen lining the side of the Viking. The latter was a large, clumsy-looking cargo-boat, and was quite evidently not in the best of condition. She needed paint badly. Great rusty blotches marred her dark sides. Her rigging looked rickety. Huge derricks rose fore and after, and the derrick-booms were lashed horizontally, producing a peculiar appearance. At a little distance she looked as though she were equipped with elevated plank-walks. Her decks were littered with cargo. When the two vessels had come close to each other, both were stopped, and preparations were made to put the doctor aboard the Viking.
A small boat was lowered on the leeward side of the Iroquois, and the doctor and the crew stepped into her as she dropped level with the rail. The doctor carried his medicine case. Suddenly Henry turned to the captain, who was watching operations. “Might I go along?” he asked.
“Do you want a passenger, Mr. Hill?” asked the captain, for the lieutenant was in charge of the boat. “Mr. Harper here would like to go.”
“Jump in,” was the lieutenant’s reply, and Henry scrambled over the rail into the waiting boat.
In another moment the boat was far on its way to the Viking, the men bending vigorously to their oars. How she did rise and fall. But Henry was not now alarmed by the motion, as he might have been earlier. A ladder was lowered from the Viking as the small boat drew near. The little craft was laid skillfully alongside, the sailors made fast with their boat-hooks, and the doctor scrambled up the ladder, followed by the lieutenant and Henry. Some of the sailors also came aboard.
The captain welcomed the lieutenant and the doctor warmly, and then led the way to the officers’ quarters. The officers were plainly foreign. They were bearded and ruddy, with light hair, and with the strong, honest countenances so typical of Scandinavians. Henry knew without being told that they came from Norway or Sweden. They were decently dressed in the customary uniforms of sea officers.
Curious to know how a merchantman’s cabin compared with that of the Iroquois, Henry followed the doctor. He found the officers’ quarters very comfortable, but not nearly so elaborate as those on the Coast Guard cutter. The mate was in his bunk, and was quite evidently very ill. He was pale and wasted and he tossed feebly on his mattress, muttering unintelligibly in his native tongue. Plainly he was out of his head. The room smelled close and foul, with that sour, offensive odor so peculiar to sick rooms. It was more than Henry could stand, and he retreated to the deck.
With interest he examined the big freighter. It was the first time he had ever been aboard such a vessel. She was a ship of good length, built for capacity rather than speed, and her lines were as ample as those of a Dutch hausfrau. They made the boat appear clumsy. She was cut low amidship, her forecastle and afterdecks being built at a higher level. The long stretch of clear deck, unbroken by superstructure, made the craft seem longer than she really was. Fore and aft rose the enormous cargo-derricks, which had been so conspicuous from a distance. And Henry was interested to see how the derrick-booms were lashed in their places. The cargo hatches were mostly battened down.
But Henry had little interest in anything else, once he had a good look at the crew, grouped along the forward rail. When he saw them, it seemed as though he had somehow been magically transported of a sudden to a strange and foreign land. Never had he seen such a queer-looking lot of men as these sailors. There were Chinese, with their yellow, sickly-looking skins and dark crowns and curious-shaped eyes: and Lascars, swarthy and stolid and mysterious looking: and little, black-eyed Japanese, with their straight, coarse black hair and inscrutable faces. And the sounds—the grunts and curious guttural mumblings—that arose among these Oriental sailors were as odd and unintelligible as the men themselves appeared to be. Henry wondered how white men could possibly bring themselves to live with such seemingly uncongenial companions in such an isolated and lonely place as an ocean-going steamer. Much as he thought he would like life at sea, he was certain he would not like it if he had to live under such conditions.
When Henry’s eye caught sight of the wireless antennæ, he decided at once to visit the wireless man. Following the lead-in wire with his eye, he located the wireless shack, and promptly knocked at the door. He was both surprised and pleased when the door was thrown open and a cheery voice said, in good English, though with a foreign accent: “Good-day, sir. I am glad to see you. Won’t you come in?”
“Thank you,” said Henry. “I will be glad to come in. I am interested in wireless.”
“Are you an operator yourself?” asked the Viking’s wireless man.
“Not exactly. I was an operator at one of the United States stations for a little while. I am trying to get a place as operator in the Coast Guard. I’m taking a trip with the Iroquois now. It’s my first trip at sea.”
“Then you can read and send readily.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Would you like to say ‘How do you do’ to the operator on the Iroquois?”
“Be tickled to death,” said Henry.
“Very well. Do it,” said the operator.
Henry sat down at the Viking’s key and threw on the power. “NTE—NTE—NTE—de—WxY,” he flashed. And, almost before he had taken his finger from the key, there came crackling in his ear the reply: “WXY—WXY—WXY—de—NTE—K.”
Even had he been a thousand miles away, Henry would not have needed to inquire who was sending. There could be no mistaking the smooth, even, rapid telegraphing of Mr. Sharp.
“Hello, Mr. Sharp,” rapped out Henry. “This is Henry Harper. The operator has been courteous enough to allow me to use his equipment. The Viking is a very interesting boat.”
Henry almost said she was a mighty curious old tub, but he remembered in time that his host could read all he was sending. He was about to add more, when he saw the lieutenant and the doctor step on deck. So he said good-bye, thanked the operator for his courtesy, and joined the little group from the Iroquois.
The more he saw of the freighter, the more he was pleased with his own little boat. The Viking’s wireless did not compare with the equipment of the Iroquois, any more than the rest of the boat compared with the cutter for comfort and looks. If there was anything lacking to make Henry sure of the difference, he found it.when the doctor went into the forecastle, to treat a sick sailor.
Henry went, too, but he did not remain long. The frightful smell in the crew’s quarters almost sickened him. Everything was dirty and foul and disorderly. Henry knew that in the crew’s quarters on the Iroquois, though there was not much room, and there was more or less odor from the cook’s galley, at least everything was scrupulously neat and spotlessly clean. All that he saw made Henry the more certain that he had chosen wisely in planning to get into the Coast Guard service. And when he stepped to the deck and found himself at close quarters with the crew, he knew he had made no mistake. Some American sailors might be “tough,” he thought, but they were a million times more desirable as shipmates than these unintelligible Orientals.
Henry was glad enough when the doctor at last reappeared on the deck and prepared to return to the cutter. Good-byes were said, the Viking’s captain thanked the doctor and the lieutenant, Henry called farewell to the wireless man, and in a minute or two the little party from the cutter was bobbing up and down again on the waves, on the way to the Iroquois. Then the small boat was hoisted, swung inboard, and made fast. ‘The ship’s propeller began to revolve, the water foamed at the bow, and, swinging into her course once more, the Iroquois was soon speeding toward Boston.