Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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IIQIEEIIIIITII 15 Did they come very often, Cap'n? asked one of his guests. Sometimes, and then again we wouldn't see thrm for months. Depcnded on how long a voy- age he took. was the reply. W'ell, how did he happen to be killed? lf you will give me a chance to catch my breath. l'll tell you. the captain said, quietly. Then he continued, A little while after he was married Cap'n Pickett had saved enough money to buy himself a good sized schooner. lle found one to his liking in lingland. She was named the llru. and her former owner had made a contract with his mate concerning the selling of the boat. The former owner agreed in the contract that. if he should sell his ship, his mate would go with her and remain her mate. I 'lihat's mighty peculiar, Cap'n, said one of his elderly guests. l've never heard of that happen- ing before. Was it very common in those days 7' Yes, it was a frequent practice then. Many times officers who were not captains grew very fond of their master's ship and would never want to leave her. lf she was sold by the master. they tried to get the new owner to hire them. lint, interrupted his guest again, wouldn't the new owners object to this sort of agreement between a captain and his officers F Sometimes. but not very often, the old eap- tain replied. patiently ignoring the frequent inter- ruptions. Mostly the new owners would be glad to hire her former officers and crew because they, being fond of their ship. would take better care of her. .Xfter satisfying his questioning guest. the cap- tain resumed. Well, after buying his ship in lingland, Cap'n Pickett sailed her back to Boston. She made sev- eral successful voyages and Cap'n Pickett was quite proud of her. What did she look like. Cap'n asked his boy guest, who was interested in all the details. XVas she very big? Oh, yes, she was a good-sized boat about 350 feet long. She was a four-master, weighing well over a thousand tons. What was she made of, C'ap'n? 4 Jak, bound with steel. The old captain paused a moment to look down to the foot of the table at his youngest grandson, who was regarding him intently with solenm. blue eyes. and winked at him. Then, turning to his guests, he once more continued his story. l lowever. Cap'n Pickett had one trouble with the Urn-aml this was the mate. lfvidently the mate was jealous of Cap'n Pickett because the foriner owner had sold the ship to Cap'n Pickett instead of to him. lt was because of this jealousy that Cap'n Pickett was constantly having trouble with the mate. He couldn't get rid of the mate because of the contract. 'l'he last time we saw L'ap'n Pickett and his wife was when he came to visit us from lloston, lle had put his ship into lloston to load up with white pine boards for the Barbados. This lumber was used to build houses there. llow much lumber could she carry, tiap'n? asked the detailer. Well, being a large ship. l should say she car- ried two or three million feet. Gosh, was the amazed reply. Hilo on, Cap'n. pleasef' urged one of his quiet guests. Meanwhile, thc captains cigar had gone out. and so before he began again. he lit it on one of his listeners proffered matches. After a few seconds' enjoyment with his cigar, he began again from behind a haze of smoke. L'ap'n Pickett had Colne to see us from lioston. bringing his wife and some presents for us. W'e were very glad to see them and enjoyed their visit. When l asked about the ship and the mate. t'ap'n Pickett shrugged his shoulders and said that he couldn't understand his matt-'s attitude. lle said that they had quarreled the day he left to come lo visit us. Did he have trouble with his mate very often. Cap'n? asked the boy. Yes, he did, and Cap'n Pickett was considering ways of getting rid of the man. llowever. the next day he left for lloston, after promising that he would come to see us again as soon as he and his wife returned from their trip to llarbados.

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14 XYell, saitl the li-ntan, ii we cnttltl only intu that Cntuet we ntight get St1l1lL'Wlll l'C.l' 1'll have all patrol ears nn the lnnk-ntttf' the ehief. Tllll satcl ving Nothing happenetl that night tnwartl the sul uf the mystery, httt almttt ten next tnnrning teleplintte rang in the the tinltce stzttiun. lt was a patrnlinatt I'l'INll'illlQ' that Il hig' hlaek killlllL'f hail just stnpiietl in front ni the ltestern llninn statintt. The chief slatnntecl flnwn the l'i'L'l'lY1'l' ancl sit11- ply sztitl, l'utne nn. quick. tn the feileral ntan. They've spnttetl It litititetf' lle ealletl twn re- serve l12lIl'Ulllll'Il irntn tl1e next t'41nt11 tn gn witlt lllt'lIl. They jtttnpetl nttii the ehief's cat antl tlrtwe nearly tn the Western l'ninn statitin hen . w tltey saw the hig lilaek ear pull away frtttn eurlt, l nlluw hint, sairl elnsef' Tlte ears ran along tu the tlriveway where tl1e ti-tnzut. hut nnt the tain at a slow speetl :intl eatne the Cunt Ili1le the ear ill that little tlte liuverittttetit ntan. tiatrnltnett hetter luring neetl them, We-'ll along thu et turnetl tiff wtituls t'tiatl. gn tin font. St' Titles. Wit saicl Ytiu tnay Tltev Caine into View nl tlte lxttiltling just as tlte tlriyer of tlte ear was gluing intn the huttse. l'nt gating tn take a try at the hack tlt1n1'. Sflifl the G-tnan. Yun stay here. lf there's any shunts ing. flnn't fnrget the kifl tnay he in there. Ile fnuntl tl1e liaek flunr ttttlnekefl :intl tln-nttglt it he quietly went, llnwn tlte hall lte enttltl ltear vtviees. .Xs he Caine tn the 11111111 i11 Wl1iCll ll1L'5' were, lte sutlrlenly stelitvefl in with gun ill lt' antl. Xll right! Het 'etn up! XXX-ll. well. it it ist1't the trin nl hunk l'l7lllK'l'S. lake, lietirge antl Slug, ltuess you lnt ntl nture tltan vnu euultl ehew this tinte, jake. .Xre yutt all right, 'illllltJl'? he askecl. I gttess ytitt nwe your life tu the little litfttle nt' tnetlieine whieh gnt you into this Il'lllllllC.'l li. ll., 'ill VI SIONS lun nrtnt' givhleu ltnurs slip away ' ns hll my lxrftin. Youth lives in ilreants, nut in realtttes, Still. eittxntless shining visit, Net has nu teasnn 111 lte xetleil lll shatne. 11, lt, 'zz THE URN Sttpper was nrer at L'ap'n Gnlcltl1wait's hnuse. The nltl captain antl pilut pushetl hitnself away trntn the talile antl lit a cigar. lint' at ninntent he lunketl arntuttl at the heatning faces liefnre llilll to he sure that his guests were well satistierl antl enn- tentefl. lfritlently what he saw salistietl l1it11, for lte lL'IlIll'Il haek i11 his ehair anal ptttvfetl eniltetttetlly at ltis cigar. l itt:tlly,11t1e11i his guests. whn hail heen lnnking nut nl the large :lining rnuttt wittcliiws at the sea, watching the gulls as they snaretl ahnttt, stttltlenly tiuestinnetl, t':1t1'1t, tlitl ytitt ever have :t irientl wht: was lust at sea? The oltl captain lnnkecl at his guest a tninnent with serintts eyes. llttring this isiiaee ni tllllt' his guest uhservetl the witle. NYl'1lTl1Cl I2llll104l, wrinkletl face, the kinclly hltte eyes antl the intelligent inre- heatl of ltis host. The guest, who was a hny, knew that the questinn wnultl he well answererl. Meanwhile the rest of Calfti Gnltltl1w:1it's guests hail Ct1111I'nt'tahly settletl tltetuselves in their eltairs. waiting int' the catmtaitfs answer. XYell, the eaptain rtttninatetl a tnunient, yes :intl nn, Russell. Ynu see. nty irientl XVIl5ll.t exactly lust at sea-V-as fat' as we kutvw. lte think lte was tnttt'tlererl. The hny half startetl. Tell tts ahuttt hitn, please! he exelaitnetl eagerly. hxxvlllt was he? kliltere tlitl he entne frunt? .Xml wlty tln yntt tlti11k he was tnttrtleretl The nhl captain leanetl littl'WIll'Ll un his eltair, stniling faintly as he tlitl sn at tlte suclclen nut- httrst of iittgstiniis ztnfl restetl his heavy hanils nn tlte tahle. Then, in :1 tleetm, clear wire, lie hegan his stnry. Tu hegin with, Russell, the lllillliri nante was fifllllll Pickett. lle antl his wife hailetl lrntn lfast- purt. Before killlllll l'iekett tltarrietl, lte put intn the l'ot1l une night witlt :1 small hnat lnailetl witlt sutitilies. lluring the lilllL' he was here at the l'04ll, 1 tttet l1in1 antl itittnetliately we lll'l'Illlll' irientls. Sn, after that. antl after he tnarrietl, it' he eante withitt :1 huntlrefl ntiles nt' the l'1lt1l. he always eante tu visit tue antl Mrs. linltltltwait, hringing his wife witlt lti111. Wie snnn heeante last trienrls flllll always wishefl tltat l1e wuuhl entne 1n1i1'e tit-tet1

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lf' 'HX few days later we read in a lloston paper that Capln Pickett and his wife with a crew of twenty-four men had sailed for Barbados with his ship Urn and a cargo of white pine lumberf, The captai.n's listeners leaned forward tensely, for they knew by the tone of the old man's voice that the interesting part of the story was coming Stltlll. llc never returned from that trip. The solemn tones frightened the youngest grandson. who almost whimpered aloud. The hrst time we heard or read anything about him was three or four months later. when I had opened a newspaper and saw his picture, the mate-'s picture. and a picture of the Urn. What did the paper say? excitedly questioned the older boy. The newspaper stated that the ship had been just a few days out of llarbados when it suddenly started sinking. lt sank so fast that the decks were soon awash and the crew didn't have an opportunity to save their belongings. The crew soon learned that the captain. his wife, and the second mate were missing, but as the captain's stateroom was under water by that time, they didn't have an opportunity to get to it. The newspaper also stated that the schooner Vrn was lost at sea with Captain l'ickett, his wife, and the second mate under very peculiar circum- stances. and that government officials were holding the first mate of the f'rn for questioning. XYhat had happened, K'ap'n asked the boy, 'bkccording to the testimony of the crew. it was believed that the mate had murdered L'ap'n l'ickett. his wife, and the second mate. llowever, none of the crew had a chance to get to the captain's stateroom before the ship sank: so they couldn't testify whether he was alive or dead before the ship sank. The crew did testify that they had felt no jar nor seen any obstacle that could have sunk the ship. They believed that someone had opened the sea cocks in the bottom of the boat. lint, Cap'n, interrupted one of his guests, how did the men escape from the sinking ship? 'lihe captain paused a moment before he an- swered. bnt he patiently explained. You see, the ship itself was wood so that it kept atloat for some timc. The men were rescued with the mate by a passing steamer. When the steamer reached llarbados, they gave to the revenue cutter the location of the sinking ship, and the cutter set out to find it and tow it hack to port if this could be done. The cutter never found the schooner because the dry pine wood mnst have swelled after coming in contact with the water and broken the ship in two, sink- ing it. You say it had a cargo of white pine lumber. t'ap'u cross-examined one of his elder guests. 'Wkliy didn't the lumber keep it afloat F Well, you see the lumber was packed in in such a way that it didn't have an opportunity to escape so that. it would be buoyant. Instead, it became a weight. Oh, I understand now. L'ap'n. tio on. please. Wlien the mate testified in defense of himself, he said that L'ap'n l'ickett. when he saw the ship sinking, had deserted her with his wife and the second inate in the quarter boat. The crew had noticed that the quarter boat was gone, but they believed that the ropes had been cut so that she went adrift, This was held against the mate be- cause the crew testified that no three men could alone launch her successfully. llowever, in spite of everyone's suspicions. the mate was released because of lack of evidence against him. Although we investigated the case thoroughly. since my wife and l were his friends, we could tind nothing to ineriminate the mate. So from that day to this no one actually knows what happened to Liap'n Pickett, his wife, and the second mate. Hee, that was a mighty interesting story, tQap'n, said his boy guest. Could you tell us another one 2 XYell, the old captain smiled. l can't think of one right this moment, but some other time. may- be. l'll have to look through some of my records to see if there are any more happenings like that. .Xnd then the old captain settled back in his chair to enjoy the rest of his cigar and talk politics with the elder guests. So, nothing more was said of the strange fate of liap'n I'ickett and the mysteries of the sea. lt. Xl.. '38,