Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

A moment later the mate shouted for all who were aloft to come down; and as soon as we reached the deck the Washington's course was changed to the direction of the little speck I had seen.

Not a word was said by the captain and mate to any of the crew as to the cause of the change of course. I told Haines and several others what I had seen, and that I thought we were about to take up a boat from a wrecked ship.

In a little while the speck became clearly visible from the deck; and as we approached it, we who had no telescopes could clearly make out that it was a boat with a rude substitute for a sail spread in the bows. We ran free, and overhauled it in a short time; and as we approached it we could see a white cloth waved in the air to assure us that some one was on board.

As we came up to the boat we hove to for it to come alongside. The people on board seemed to have considerable difficulty in maneuvering their craft, and so Mr. Johnson, our second mate, was ordered to lower one of our boats and go to the relief of the stranger. This he did promptly, and very soon the two boats were alongside, fastened to ropes that had been thrown over for their accommodation.

Mr. Johnson sent one of the men from our boat up the side of the ship to the deck, to tell the captain that the people in the strange boat were so exhausted that they would be unable to climb the rope safely, and he advised that a sling should be rigged in order to get them on board.

Immediately on learning this Captain Dawson ordered a sling to be rigged from the end of the mainyard. In ten or fifteen minutes the sling was ready, and meantime some bread and hot coffee had been lowered for the use of the unfortunate strangers. There were eight of them in the boat altogether, and as I looked over the side I could see that there were two women and a girl in the party. One of the women was middle aged, and the other young, perhaps sixteen or thereabouts. These two and the girl, who appeared to be six or seven years old, clung closely together, and I judged that the elder of the trio was the mother of the other two. Close by them was a soldierly, dignified man who seemed to be consoling and cheering them, and I concluded that he was the husband of the elder woman, and the father of the two others.

When the sling was ready the strangers were speedily hoisted on deck. The sling was made of a piece of stout canvas sewn into the shape of a chair, and with its sides held into position by means of part of a hoop from an old water-cask.

The edge of the canvas was turned over so as to make it double, and in this doubled edge three holes were pierced to receive the ends of a half-inch rope. The three small ropes were joined together about four feet above the sling and fastened to a three-quarter-inch rope that passed through a tackle at the end of the mainsail-yard. By means of this rope and tackle the chair, or sling, could be raised and lowered at will.

It was lowered into the boat and the middle-aged woman was placed in it. She hesitated at first at trusting herself to be hoisted into the air; but the man I took to be her husband urged her, and after a little demur she sat down as directed. Mr. Johnson had stepped into the boat to see that the sling was properly managed, and before the order was given to hoist away he passed a rope around the sling and its passenger, so that in case she became frightened and lost control of herself she would not be likely to fall out.

When all was ready the word was given and the men on the deck of the Washington hauled away with a will. When the sling was well above the level of our rail it was drawn in on deck by means of a line that had been fastened to it independent of the hoisting-line. As it was drawn in the sailors who had hoisted it eased away on the rope, and in less time than it takes me to tell it the fair passenger stood on the deck of our ship.