intervals. Two raw eggs, with equal bulk of good brandy, well beaten together, and a teaspoonful taken every ten minutes, is good for an emergency. Avoid being talked to when you are sick. Do not read, or apply your attention to anything. Keep quiet when you are sick, and when you feel able to go on deck, keep your eyes closed and sit in a recumbent position." By following the simple directions above outlined, seasickness may in many cases be avoided and when present may be cured. CHAPTER III. THE BARKENTINE CATHERINE SUDDEN-OFFICERS AND CREW-UNSEAWORTHY SHIPS-ABSENCE OF LEGAL PROTECTION-VESSELS WRECKED-Loss of LIFE-LAW ENACTED. In a long sea voyage a good ship, experienced officers and a well disciplined crew are three primary essentials for the safety and comfort of the passengers. We were fortunate in this regard-more so than many others who sailed from the port of San Francisco about the time we did and who soon after slept at the bottom of the ocean, not far from the entrance to the Golden Gate. A brief description of our sailing ship may not be without interest. The Catherine Sudden* was a beautiful ship when under full sail. She was a three-mast barkentine, one hundred and sixty feet long, with a forty-two foot beam and her gross tonnage was four hundred tons. Built for the China tea trade twenty-five years ago, she was employed in that service for a number of years, running between Hong Kong and San Francisco. Prior to the Alaska gold excitement she was engaged in various lines of trade which took her to many foreign ports. Among the seafaring men she had a record for fast sailing, and the boys who manned her on our voyage to the North said she was the finest sailing craft that ever rode the seas. She was a wooden vessel, strongly built, and before leaving for Kotzebue Sound had been remodeled and *The Catherine Sudden was wrecked during her first trip to Nome in the early spring of 1900. equipped in fairly good shape. She was arranged to accommodate two hundred and sixty passengers, but less than one-third of that number sailed on her. The sleeping apartments were constructed along the entire length of the port and starboard sides, with fore and aft bunks. A commodious dining room, neatly arranged, ran through the center of the cabin. The galley was in the forward part of the vessel and the officers' apartments in the rear. The master's private saloon and smoking room was generously placed at the disposal of the passengers by the genial captain. The ship was lighted by kerosene side lamps and common tubular lanterns. The larder was well supplied with substantial food, all luxuries being eliminated. The Master of the Catherine Sudden was Captain Frederick Green, a well-known and successful deepwater navigator of San Francisco. He was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sixty-seven years ago. He is known in the sailors' dialect as "an ol' whaler," and has sailed the seas for more than fifty years, spending many a dreary winter in the ice-fields around Point Barrow. Captain Green is a genial, whole-souled fellow. In times of special responsibility he has the abruptness, even gruffness, which is more or less characteristic of a sailor's life, and which under like circumstances may be often seen in persons of strong character and will, who are not sailors; but he is a man of noble qualities, and has the temperament and forcefulness that invite confidence. He navigated our bark with the skill of a master hand, was kind to the sailors and courteous to the passengers, and won the respect of all on board. William Tattessal, a seaman of no ordinary ability, shipped as first mate. His home is in San Francisco. He is an intelligent man and is always a gentleman whether on sea or land. Captain Tattessal was a general favorite among the passengers. He is forty-eight years of age and has been a sailor practically all his life. Born in England, he came to America at an early age, and on reaching his majority, adopted the Stars and Stripes as his colors. His first voyage to sea was in the capacity of cabin boy, and by strict attention to discipline and ever vigilant in duty, was promoted step by step until he reached the head of his profession. Diligently applying himself to nautical works he soon mastered the art of navigation, and was rated when yet quite young as a navigator of no mean rank. Captain Tattessal has been master of several vessels of the first class, and has made many a run between England and America. The second mate and eleven seamen and petty officers comprised the complement of the Catherine's crew. Including officers and men they were as fine a company of sailors as ever had a ship committed to their care. While the Catherine Sudden was beyond question the best sailing vessel that in the spring of '98 left the port of San Francisco for Alaska, in some respects she was unfit to go to sea. Still, the marine authorities could not stop her. The navigation laws were such at the time we sailed, as to afford no protection to life and property on sailing ships, and any old craft, provided she had not steam power, might go to sea, and any old tar command her. This omission has, however, since been supplied. Two sailing ships which had long outlived their usefulness, having, in starting on their way to Kotzebue Sound in May of that year, been wrecked near San Francisco, and a hundred or more lives lost, Congress the following June passed |