on her shining side. I hailed a motor boat to take me out. The boatman
wanted three dollars, and I offered one. He protested that the yacht was
interned and he had no right to take visitors out anyway. He'd get into
trouble with "39"--"39" being a United States destroyer lying in the
Narrows a few hundred yards away. After some bickering we compromised on
a dollar and a quarter.
That was a startling adventure for the humble publisher's reader!
Wallowing in an ice-glazed motor boat, in the lumpy water of a
"bight"--surrounded by ships and the men who sail them--I might almost
have been a hardy newspaper man! But Long Island commuters are nurtured
to a tough and perilous his, and I clambered the _Alvina's _side without
dropping hat, stick, or any of my pocketful of manuscripts.
Joe Hogan, the steward, was there in his white jacket. He introduced me
to the cook, the bosun, the "chief," the wireless, and the "second." The
first officer was too heavy with liquor to notice the arrival of a
stranger. Messrs. Haig and Haig, those _Dioscuri_ of seamen, had been at
work. The skipper was ashore. He owns a saloon.
The _Alvina_ is a lovely little vessel, 215 feet long, they told me,
and about 525 tons. She is fitted with mahogany throughout; the
staterooms all have brass double beds and private bathrooms attached;
she has her own wireless telegraph and telephone, refrigerating
apparatus, and everything to make the owner and his guests comfortable.
But her beautiful furnishings were tumbled this way and that in
preparation for the sterner duties that lay before her. The lower deck
was cumbered with sacks of coal lashed down. A transatlantic voyage in
January is likely to be a lively one for a yacht of 500 tons.
I found Tommy below in his bunk, cleaning up. He is a typical Dutch
lad--round, open face, fair hair, and guileless blue eyes. He showed me
all his treasures--his certificates of good conduct from all the ships
(both sail and steam) on which he has served; a picture of his mother,
who died when he was six; and of his sister Greta--a very pretty
girl--who is also mentioned in _Casuals of the Sea._ The drunken fireman
in the story who dies after a debauch was Tommy's father who died in the
same way. And with these other treasures Tommy showed me a packet of
letters from Mr. McFee.
I do not want to offend Mr. McFee by describing his letters to this
Dutch sailor-boy as "sensible," but that is just what they were. Tommy
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