Hooker (ship)

“ This hooker is worth four thousand dollars any day in the week; they’ve let us run off with her, they set her as a trap for us, but they’ll want her back. If we put into any Chile port, we’ll be nabbed and put to work in the salt mines while these blighters will get their ship back. ”

“ If a ship be laden in part with an article which will dissolve in water, there is much danger, if the ship should leak, that this portion of the cargo shall be dissolved and be pumped out with the bilge-water, thus altering the trim of the vessel, or removing the centre of gravity from over the middle line, and bringing it too far forward, or carrying it too far back, making the ship wholly unmanageable. ”

“ He had never gone below before, except under most favorable conditions and in very shallow water. Still, he knew what to do, and he managed to get a good man above to tend line for him. He found things in bad shape at the opening, but lost no more time than he could help getting a purchase to the end of that safe, and the winches started. In half an hour they had dragged it clear of the ship, and I was hauled aboard insensible, but still alive.
Before I had regained my senses, they had the safe fast aboard the old hooker, and I had the satisfaction of staggering on deck to view it. ”

“ The captain stood up, and shouted and waved, and the hooker, hauling her wind, hove to to await their coming. The skipper, knowing he should be amply recompensed, was delighted to receive them on board and to take their boat in tow; and Ellen, seated on a sail, was wafted up the river in a very different style to that of Cleopatra in her barge, as far as the mouth of the Suir; when, the wind failing, Captain O’Brien, with the assistance of one of the crew of the hooker, pulled up the remainder of the distance to Waterford in the Coquille’s dinghy. ”

“ Illustration.—This may be clearly illustrated if we compare the force of attraction to the force of muscular action. Suppose a man in a boat pulls on a rope which is made fast to a ship lying loose at the wharf, and in this way draws his boat toward it. He does not dream that he moves the ship at all; but he in reality does, for if instead of one boat a hundred or more pull upon the ship, they will move it so much as to make the motion apparent. In the case of the single boat, the ship as really moves as when a hundred boats are pulling on it, but it is only the one hundredth part as much. ”

“ I answered, meaningly.
"She is a brute in a seaway, but she keeps dry at both ends," assented the fellow, utterly ignoring my meaning. "It's always so with every hooker if she's deep. Some takes it forrad and aft, and some takes it amidships. It's all one s'long as she keeps a dry bilge. Come aboard."
I hesitated, and then climbed up the mizzen channels, which were level with the wharf.
"Short handed?" I suggested, reaching the deck.
"Naw, there's nobody but me an' the doctor in the after guard; we'll get a crew aboard early in the morning, though; skipper, too, if what they say is kerrect." ”

“ The crew were a tough lot, being mostly old "packet rats," as they are termed. They would stay on shore until their advance money was all spent, then they would have to ship. They would steal all of their clothing from their more provident shipmates. My bag had been searched, but it only set them wondering as to who I was, with all the old rags and the two grape-shot. In just one month's time we sighted Sandy Hook, New York. The passengers were all on deck, getting their first glimpse of America, and were all glad that the voyage was so nearly ended. ”

“ To the pirates it was a voice crying that all the boys lay slain in the cabin; and they were panic-stricken. Hook tried to hearten them, but like the dogs he had made them they showed him their fangs, and he knew that if he took his eyes off them now they would leap at him.
“Lads,” he said, ready to cajole or strike as need be, but never quailing for an instant, “I’ve thought it out. There’s a Jonah aboard.”
“Ay,” they snarled, “a man wi’ a hook.”
“No, lads, no, it’s the girl. Never was luck on a pirate ship wi’ a woman on board. We’ll right the ship when she’s gone.” ”

“ He must do as he is told, instantly and without question; if he gets killed—why, there is no great loss, for any owner or skipper can get a crew aboard at any of the large ports of trade. Of course, if he takes a different point of view, the only thing for him to do is to stay on the beach. He must not ship on a sailing packet that is carrying twenty percent more freight than the law allows and is getting from three to four dollars a ton for carrying it some ten or fifteen thousand miles over every kind of ocean between the frigid zones. ”

“ What’s a hooker? A hooker—what a catechetical little chatterbox ye are! A man can’t get a word in edgeways—a hooker’s a boat. Ours was a twenty-ton, half-decked, cutter-rigged sort of thing, built for nothing in particular, and always used for everything. It was lucky for me we took Tim Brady’s boat instead of the coracle, or I’d be now where—where poor Barney is. Oh, Barney, Barney! How’ll I ever get over it? Why did ye never learn to swim, so fond of the water as ye were? Why couldn’t ye hold on to me when I got a good grip of ye! ”

“ But this time, under his eyes, the little ship was no longer striving. Listed to port, sails hanging and aback, small rudder loose, it seemed to have given up; and from it there came to him, somehow, mute speech, a silent passion of supplication which drew down his head and his eyes closer to a more careful scrutiny. And, peering close thus, through the green glass, he saw the apprentice boy, Ives-Marie. The little fellow was kneeling on the hard deck, and his clasped hands and his pale face were raised to the observer, and he was begging, begging from his very heart and entrails. ”

“ You understand that, don't you, Beauty? The sailor with the crooked smile—he carved only the ship and the things on it—the small boats, the capstan, the dead things on it. But he did not make any people. Look carefully. See, there are no people."
"They're down in the cabin, having dinner," the little girl said, with a shining smile. "And, oh, Daddie, give me the little ship, give me the little ship to be all my own!"
An obscure reluctance was in his heart, but he could find no reason for it. And so, finding no reason, he gave her the little ship in the bottle. ”

“ She was now peering through the glass into the bottle. "Oh," she cried with mock annoyance, "what a rough, noisy father I have! You've scared them all down below, Daddie! And they were all up on deck, and I was having such a good time with them—Captain Kersedore, and Michel, and the crew, and Ives-Marie. They won't come up again to-night. You have frightened them, Daddie."
"Beauty," he said, "I am going to take the little ship away from you." ”

“ When all were disposed of, the captain turned to the pilot and ordered him to confess or share the fate of the others, upon which Hoo-kee fell upon his knees and made a clean breast of it. Not only had the compradors, under threat of bringing the Fanquis down upon the villagers, obtained cattle and other live stock, but actually the scoundrels, sheltered by the ship's guns, had seized and carried away a large number of girls, whom they had sold to Hong-Kong dealers. ”

“ Their crews are composed principally of convicts who have served out their terms of sentence, and ticket-of-relief men: with such material it is scarcely possible to form a good crew. Their officers and captains were, in many cases, from the same class of society; and on board one of the barques the master was so ignorant as to be compelled to carry a navigator, who directed all the movements of the ship, except when they were whaling. A few Yankees were amongst them—in every case deserters from American whalers. ”

“ She walked fast, her little skirts billowing to a following wind, and they had reached the cliffs above the sea before he noticed that, under her cape, she had been carrying the little ship in the bottle.
"I'm going to let them go," she answered to his glance. "Oh, Daddie, they are not happy in the bottle! They are not happy; they yearn and grieve. They want to sail out freely into the wide sea. They beg to get out, they beg me so. Little Ives-Marie kneels to me and begs and begs. Oh, Daddie, I must let them go!" ”

“ On Saturday, however, he came, running in a great hurry down to the shore, and, jumping aboard, he gave orders to make all sail, and taking the helm of the hooker, he turned her head to the sea, and soon the boat was cleaving the blue waters with a velocity seldom witnessed in so small a craft, and scarcely conceivable to those who have not seen the speed of a Kinsale hooker.
"Why, thin, you tuk the notion mighty suddint, Barny," said the fisherman next in authority to O'Reirdon, as soon as the bustle of getting the boat under way had subsided. ”

“ Last of all the pilot comes on board; the sails are loosed and hoisted; and the lashings being cast off from the hulk, the gay ship sails joyously out of harbour, and takes up her anchorage at the anchoring ground. The officers and crew set to work in getting things into their places; and being all thoroughly tired of harbour, and anxious to get to sea, a fresh feeling of zeal and activity pervades the whole establishment.
The powder is now got on board; the warrant-officers "indent" or sign the proper acknowledgments for their stores at the dockyard ”

“ It's unusual enough anywhere, but aboard a California hooker it is little short of miraculous. The crew had all turned up, apparently, and a swarm of stevedores were hustling every sort of provisions, supplies, stock, spars, lines and canvas down into the hold. It was a rush job, and that mate was having his hands full. I didn't wonder at his language nor at his looks, both of which were somewhat mussed up. Then almost at my elbow I heard that shrill falsetto squeal, and turned just in time to see the captain ascend the after gangplank. ”

“ The boat which had been lowered from the schooner was quickly rowed alongside the brig, and nine or ten men, ferocious of appearance and well-armed with knives, cutlasses and muskets, now leapt aboard. It was obvious before they had left the schooner’s deck that these were desperate pirates, such as had many a dark, cruel deed to their consciences. With no wasting of formality they at once took charge of the brig and ordered Lumsden, Smith, the ship’s carpenter, and also a Captain Cowper who was travelling as a passenger, to proceed on board the schooner without delay. ”

“ His sheer physical power was second only to that of Captain Selover. One of his forearms ended in a steel hook. At the moment I could not understand this; could not see how a man so maimed could be useful aboard a ship. Later I wished we had more as handy. He knew a jam hitch which he caught over and under his hook quicker than most men can grasp a line with the naked hand. It would render one way, but held fast the other. He told me it was a cinch-hook hitch employed by mule packers in the mountains, and that he had used it on swamp-hooks in the lumber woods of Michigan. ”

“ They pull down the sail, and in a stiff gale help to hold it so that all the stress may not bear upon the tack.
HOOK AND BUTT. The scarphing or laying two ends of planks over each other. (See Butt-and-Butt and Hook-scarph.)
HOOK-BLOCK. Any block, of iron or wood, strapped with a hook.
HOOK-BOLTS. Those used to secure lower-deck ports.
HOOKER, or Howker. A coast or fishing vessel—a small hoy-built craft with one mast, intended for fishing. They are common on our coasts, and greatly used by pilots, especially off the Irish ports. Also, Jack's name for his vessel, the favourite "old hooker." ”

“ If they are not so accepted, the owner first becomes chargeable whenever, and, it may be safely affirmed, wherever, they so reach his hands. But when the voyage is strangled in its inception, there is no port referable to but the home port of the shipper. Destruction of the vessel there necessarily leads to a return of the cargo into the hands of the shipper. If, permissively, or by express retainer, the master of the disabled ship hires another vessel, transships the cargo, and carries it to the port of original destination, this is a new adventure, voyage, and agency. ”

“ We braced her sharper, and she pointed a bit higher, but she could not quite head up to the black stick that showed above the horizon. The wind, however, was steady, and under her royals the Pirate was about the fastest and prettiest ship afloat. She heeled gently to the breeze and went through it to the tune of seven knots, rolling the heft of the long sea away from her clipper bows and tossing off the foam without a jar or tremble. I looked hard at the distant speck which was now just visible from the deck, and wondered how Andrews and his crew felt. ”

“ Davidson’s yacht, and this——”
“Yes, madam?”
“Why, it’s robbery, and it’s, it’s, why it’s abduction, too. You ought to know the law.”
“I do know the law. It is piracy. Have we not told you that resistance would be worse than useless? Haven’t I told you I’ve captured this ship? Little do you know the fate that lies before you, madam, at the hands of my ruthless [Pg 140] men if I should prove unable to restrain them! And have a care not to offend Black Bart the Avenger, himself! If you do, Aunt Lucinda, he may cut off your evening champagne.” ”

“ In leaving the pontoon for the offing, the various craft increase in size as the water deepens. First the small raters are passed, 1⁄2-, 1-, 21⁄2-raters, 'Wee Winn,' 'Polynia,' 'Hoopoo,' and 'Kitten'—described by 'Thalassa' in his Solent chapter. Passing the tens and twenties the French yachts are reached, for of late years the burgee of the French club is often seen at Cowes, and the American flag is more frequent than of yore. The Guard-ship now looms. The Royal yacht, 'Victoria and Albert,' is at her buoy, the Royal Yacht Squadron nobly represented. ”