First Fury – Page 3 – Thomas Macy

Life in a Forecastle

When Ann found herself on the deck of the Christopher Mitchell, she was ordered to the fo’cstle. How was she to know that the Mate meant the forecastle…and that the forecastle was under the foredeck of the ship?

Imagine being forcefully directed to a box-like structure (the companionway) covering the entrance to a compartment cloaked in darkness. You peer down into the black space and are just able to see where the bottom of the steep ladder ends on the floor about five feet down. Everything else is covered in a lightless gloom. Tossing in your one bag containing all your worldly possessions, you turn and climb down backwards.

As your head approaches the opening in the deck, the rank fumes of sweat, vomit, and dead fish wends its way up into your nose so that you even taste the foul air. Though you fight to keep your head up and in the fresh air, you are told to move on in. Turning you step into the shadows of a hovel from hell, and your head smashes into an overhead beam. As you walk further in, you hunch over. When your eyes become somewhat adjusted to the darkness, the light from the forecastle companionway reveals the vague outlines of 16 bunks—four upper and four lower along the port and starboard sides. Bags and trunks litter the deck along these bunks. You choose an available berth.

Now that you can see a little better, you look around…no portholes, and no means of ventilation other than the hatch. What will it be like when the companionway is shut, you wonder, and then you add 15 men. It’s steady now in port, but what happens when the ship gyrates up and down, back and forth, over ocean swells? You groan when you realize this is your home for the next three years.

Truth of Rebecca Ann’s Story

When I first came across the story of Rebecca Ann Johnson, I thought it merely a fictitious tale. However, when her name came up while researching family history in the Nantucket Historical Association’s library, I took a more serious look. The things she did were astounding. Her story needed to be told. Here are some historical documents referenced in writing First Fury:

Letter from A. Bathurst, American Consul to Peru, to Charles and Henry Coffin in Nantucket, owners of the ship on which Ann sailed.

Story from The Rochester Daily Democrat, August 22, 1849, page 2.
Story in The Polynesian, August 25, 1849, A Romance of the Ocean.

More documentation can be found at FirstFury.com.

First Fury is available as an eBook at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, And on my web site.

How True Was Moby Dick

In The Heart of the Sea tells the story of, the Essex, a ship that suffered the same fate as the Moby Dick’s Pequod. The crew had put out in the whaleboats after whales when, to their chagrin, one large sperm whale turned and rammed the ship, sinking it. The men were left in three whaleboats in the Pacific. In The Heart of the Sea is the account of their struggle to survive as they attempt to reach South America. The story of the Essex was one of two events that led to Herman Melville writing Moby Dick.

In First Fury, Ann overhears the tale of the Essex. For someone like Ann, who had never even seen the sea, such a tale would have caused visions of such beasts waiting under every swell. Even when she is told that this is the only documented case of such a sinking, she continues to worry.

First Fury is available as an eBook at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, And on my web site.

Request for “Second Fury” Critiques

I am now working on the sequel to First Fury—Second Fury—which follows Ann on the next leg of her “journey” and am looking for friends to critique the first three chapters. Let me know if you would be interested in helping with that. For those who give feedback, I will provide a free download of Second Fury in whatever eBook format you wish when it is complete.

Ann’s Home in Rochester, NY

In 2002, I took a business trip to Rochester, New York. Sandy went with me; and, after the work was done, we spent some time tracking the path followed by Ann. Since she gave her address as 22 Oak Street in Rochester, we began there. The Erie Canal at that point no longer exists, though one can still see where it once was. From 22 Oak Street, the Kodak Office building is seen in the distance. The street ends at Frontier Stadium. On the First Fury web site “Pictures, Notes, and Docs” link, you can find an 1851 map and more pictures.

According to The Rochester Daily Democrat of August 22, 1849, page 2, column 2, “The Rochester Sailor Girl,” Ann said she was abandoned in Port Jackson but that Port Gibson is what she meant. So we traveled to Port Gibson, east of Rochester. Since 2002, our pictures of Port Gibson have been “misplaced.” We will need another trip to take contemporary pictures of the place where she cut her hair, bound herself, and donned the dress of a man.

April – Punishment on a 19th Century Whaler

After my last update, I exchanged emails with one of the recipients. He clarified the difficulty of a large sailing ship navigating a harbor full of anchored vessels with the following:

Most often, professionals known as “pilots” would handle the delicate procedure. Also in many case the ships didn’t enter the harbor at all but would anchor in deeper waters, and their cargos were “lightered” to and from the wharves. Finally, many Nantucket ships actually called in at Martha’s Vineyard (officers and crews would sail over and board the “prepared” vessel)…

Democracy did not exist on a whale ship. The captain’s rule was absolute. In First Fury, a group of sailors (including Ann) are caught disobeying the captain’s orders. On a 19th century whaling ship, punishment for such a thing included “being put in irons” or flogging, which was the most common. In flogging, a sailor was hung by his wrists until his toes just touched the deck. Then, the one executing the sentence would use a whip, rope, or a cat-o’nine-tails (a whip with 9 thin ropes often with some kind of weight at the end of each) to bare down on the offender’s stripped back. A picture of a flogging can viewed here. Richard Henry Dana In Two Years Before the Mast describes a flogging at sea as “Swinging the rope over his head, and bending his body so as to give it full force, the captain brought it down upon the poor fellow’s back. Once, twice – six times.” The full account can be found at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/flogging.htm. This was not done in private; all the crew was required to watch.
Next month, see where Ann lived in Rochester, New York.

March-Navigating a Harbor

After my last update, I exchanged emails with one of the recipients. He mentioned the difficulty of a large sailing ship navigating a harbor full of anchored vessels. That was especially true for whalers like the Christopher Mitchell. These ships often had a good number of “greenhands,” or first time sailors. Like the old shanty asks, “What do you do with a drunken sailor?” You wouldn’t put him to hauling ropes. But they put greenhands on such work. In Whale Hunt, Nelson Cole Haley describes that scene. While those on shore may gasp or laugh and other crews might jeer as the Mitchell veered left and right (like a drunken sailor), his Captain stood proudly on his ship as if it were manned by the most experienced crew.

Turning a green crew into a finely tuned machine became one of the first orders of business. To see how greenhands responded to such training, have a look at First Fury.

Wow! The Island of Kosrae

In First Fury, Ann’s ship, the Christopher Mitchell, stops at the island of Kosrae, known at the time as Strong’s Island. Then, as now, it was also called “the island of the sleeping lady” because of its shape. It is off the regular tourist routes and largely unspoiled.

One of Kosrae’s greatest attractions is the clear, clean ocean. Underwater visibility averages around 200 feet. As an additional attraction to divers, living coral reefs completely surround the island. Some sources say these reefs are thousands of years old.

The ruins of Lelu, like the statues of Easter Island, are one of the marvels of the Pacific. These ruins are remnants of a royal city that was surrounded by walls 20 feet high. Archaeologists estimate the construction took several hundred years and was finished about 1400 A.D.

From the middle of the 19th century, missionaries had a great influence on the culture. Neither drugs nor alcohol are a problem; visitors must dress modestly; and no activities are allowed on Sundays.

In First Fury, while sitting atop one of the walls, Ann’s romantic nature takes over. What kind of reaction would you expect from seamen who see her as a boy of 16 or 17?

Find out more about Kosrae at http://www.kosrae.com/.

The Romance of a Milk Sea

Have you seen “The Life of Pi” yet?

A few years ago, Sandy and I went on an astronomy focused cruise. At night, all the ship’s bow lights were turned off. Standing at the railing in the bow, the only lights were the stars; all else was darkness. In Whale Hunt, Nelson Cole Haley described a “milk sea.” He stood enthralled in the black of night as the sea began to glow and sparkle even more than the star-spangled sky. It started almost imperceptibly with the luminescence growing until the ship float in a sea of stars. A pod of dolphins jumped and swam in the glowing water, spreading streaks of light in their wake. True or false? Tall tale or fact?

In First Fury, Ann experiences the romance of “milk sea.” But, as a woman seen only as a boy amidst men on a whaling ship, how can she react to the man she…loves?

In the “Life of Pi,” Pi experiences a “milk sea.” When you see it, you may wonder, as did I, if such a thing is possible. You can find out more at:

http://lubbers-line.blogspot.com/2005/10/bioluminescent-organisms-milk-sea.html

Where Did These Terms Come From

Researching First Fury, provided some side benefits. One was that it answered questions I never knew I had; but, after the research, I knew I should have asked. Did you ever wonder about where these came from?

Why is the toilet sometimes called a “head”?
Why are office rumors sometimes referred to as “scuttlebutt”?
Why is a hard time sometimes called “trying”?
Why do some people refer to discarding something as “deep sixing” it?
Why do some people yell “shake a leg” to motivate someone to move faster?
Where does the term “son of a gun” come from?
When someone is not making sense, why are they sometimes said to have “three sheets to the wind”?
Why would someone dressed poorly be called a “clod hopper”?

You can find the answers at Where Did These Terms Come From in the Fun Stuff link at First Fury. These phrases became part of Ann’s vocabulary.

More pictures and resources are available on the book’s web site by clicking the “Pictures, Notes, Docs, etc” link.