Cross and crescent; or, Young America in Turkey and Greece : A story of travel and adventure

Front matter

VIC y r ^>L.j-t^JL I

YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD—SECOND SERIES.

Cross and Crescent;

Preface

Cross and Crescent, the third volume of the second series of "Young America Abroad," contains the history of a portion of the Academy Squadron on the voyage from the Baltic to Constantinople, and the experience of the young travellers in Turkey and Greece. As in the preceding volumes, an outline of the history of each of these countries is given, with its form of government, something about its commerce, the manners and customs of its people, and descriptions of its principal cities, and its natural and artificial objects of interest. In the journey of certain runaways, the details of a trip down the Danube, through Turkey, a sail on the Black Sea, and through the Bosporus, are presented. Various boat excursions are made in the Bosporus, the Golden Horn, and the Sea of Marmora, as well as in the waters of Greece, and many of the wonders of these distant lands are brought out in familiar conversations. The statistics and other information are derived from the latest and best sources, including books and pictures obtained by the author in Constantinople.

The story occupies a larger proportion of this book than in some of its predecessors ; but the writer hopes that his young friends will derive from it the lesson of temper-

8 PREFACE.

ance, manliness, and self-reliance in emergencies. Though it is sometimes difficult to determine in what direction the path of duty runs, high aims and high principles will always justifj' the life-voyager in the end, and his mistakes will be those of the head, and not the heart. This is the lesson which the experience of the j-oung officers of the Tritonia teaches, and those who tried to be true to the requirements of duty, however they erred in judgment, were not held responsible, in a moral sense, for their short-comings ; while those who covered up their palpable intention to do wrong, under an adherence to mere technical routine, were the only sufferers.

Cross and Crescent is the ninth volume of the " Young America Abroad" series, and the author gratefully finds occasion again to acknowledge the continued and increasing success of these books, and to thank his young friends for the favor they have so long and so heartily bestowed upon his effiarts to please and to instruct them.

Harrison Square, Boston,

November i8, 1872.

Contents

PAGB

I. A Case of Discipline ii

II. The Way of the Transgressor 29

Chapter I. A Case Of Discipline

" T HAVE had about enough of this voting busi-

JL ness," said Morley, the second lieutenant of the Tritonia.

" So have I," rephed Greenwood, the third lieutenant.

" We are all mixed up. Of the nine new officers of the vessel, only three were in her last year," continued Morley, shaking his head in the intensity of bis wrath and disappointment. "Four of them came from the Young America, and two from the Josephine. I don't think it was fair of the principal to send four of the ship's officers to cut out the officers of the Tritonia, who have done their duty faithfully in her for a year. About half the seamen are from the ship, and quite a number are from the Josephine, so that we are out-voted, and shoved down."

" I don't think it is right," added Greenwood.

II

"Just look at it. There is Wainwright, who was only fourth master in the ship, captain of the Tritonia ; elected over me, who was first lieutenant in her last month."

" Yes, and Scott, who was only the fourth midshipman, — the lowest cabin officer of the Young America, — first lieutenant of the Tritonia ; put in over me, who was her third lieutenant last month," echoed Greenwood, indignantly.

" They don't know anything about a topsail schooner, either of them."

" Wainwright was in the Josephine during his first year."

" As a seaman ! " sneered Morley. " What does he know about the handling of such a vessel ? There's no such thing as a gafi'-topsail in the ship, and I don't believe Wainwright or Scott could set one to save his life."

" I suppose we are lying at anchor in this hole to enable them to learn their duties before we get under way."

Morley and Greenwood were very much dissatisfied. The captain of the Tritonia, who had retained his rank for several months by his superior scholarship and seamanship, was to be graduated at the close of the year, and had sailed for home with the rest of his class in the Josephine. Morley had calculated upon stepping into his place, for he had been first lieutenant for several months, and was a popular officer in the Tritonia. But at the commencement of a new school year, officers and seamen had been transferred from the other vessels of the squadron, and among them

Scott, known as the joker, whose humor, good nature, and general love of fair play rendered him almost a universal favorite. Unfortunately for Morley, this advocate of fair play did not see that the old officers of the Tritonia had any especial claims to the best positions under the new order of things, which began with the incoming year ; and he labored for the election of Wainwright from the ship to the captaincy of the vessel. He was unselfish in that he worked for his friend rather than for himself; or, rather, he would have been elected himself, if he had permitted the students to vote without any electioneering. He was elected first lieutenant of the consort, without any effort on his own part, and without much on the part of his friends, for the seamen from the ship, and not a few from the two schooners, gave their votes for him.

The Most Respectable Order of Bangwhangers, invented, founded, and put into operation by Scott, had afforded an immense amount of amusement to the students in the squadron, for there had lately been a lodge in each vessel. The principal officers of the lodges formed a kind of grand lodge, at the head of which was the joker himself, formidably and formally designated the " Most Respectable Grand Chief Bangwhanger." He was honored as the inventor of the order and its tremendous mysteries, and there was no limit to his popularity. The students who remained in the Tritonia, with the exception of the cabin officers, welcomed his transfer to her with the liveliest satisfaction. Scott had promised to add a third degree to the working of the order, and the expectant members in the schooner were assured by his coming that they would be the first to enjoy the fun of the new degree.

Morley and Greenwood over-estimated the strength of their own position, for many of their shipmates of the last year voted against them. It was Scott's popularity, and this alone, that defeated them. His adherents would have chosen Allyn, late third master of the ship, second lieutenant ; but at this point the joker interfered in the interests of fair play, and labored for the election of Morley and Greenwood. Perhaps, after doing this, he thought he had done enough for them, and that they had no right to complain.

The Young America and the Tritonia, with the two yachts in which Paul Kendall and Robert Shuffles sailed, were still at Swinemiinde. The Josephine had sailed on her homeward cruise to convey the graduates, and bring back the new students. All the transfers had been made between the different vessels ; the officers had been elected and installed into their offices. They had taken possession of their cabins, and put on the uniform of their rank. The several vessels were all ready to sail on their long voyage to Constantinople ; but the principal deemed it advisable to give the officers and seamen a little practice in their new stations. One drill had already taken place, and there was so much confusion in executing the various evolutions of seamanship, that the wisdom of requiring the practice was very evident. A considerable portion of the crew of the Tritonia had never been in a topsail schooner, and were not familiar with all their duty, especially in handling the fore-and-aft sails. There was no such thing as a gaff-topsail on the ship, and the setting and furling of this sail were entirely unsatisfactory to Mr. Tompion, the vice-principal iii charge of her. But the fault was with the under officers and the seamen, and not with the first lieutenant, who, in the Josephine, had been stationed at the out-haul of the gaff'-topsail, and knew all about the sail, and its running rigging.

Captain Wainwright and Scott had no suspicion of any dissatisfaction among the officers. They saw that Morley and Greenwood were very still and reserved, and kept very much by themselves ; but they regarded their immediate subordinates as old friends between themselves, and not disposed to be in haste in making new acquaintances. Scott treated them both very kindly and courteously, and did not put on airs, or make himself offensive in any manner. But this conduct did not conciliate the second and third officers, for the latter concluded that their superiors were only endeavoring to " curry favor " with them, in order to make everything go smoothly in the cabin and on the quarter-deck.

The conversation between Morley and Greenwood took place in the waist, after all the work of the day was done. On the quarter-deck, the captain and the first lieutenant were walking back and forth, talking about the third degree of the Most Respectable Order of Bangwhangers. Scott seemed to be in his usual good humor, for the captain frequently rewarded his sallies with a generous laugh.

" We shall have to stay here two or three weeks to enable the first lieutenant to learn his duties," said Morley, contemptuously. " The hands at the gaff'- topsail were all snarled up by his blunders this afternoon."

" I don't like the idea, for the longer we wait, the hotter it will be up the Mediterranean. Besides, I'm in a hurry to see the Turks," added Greenwood.

" We shall get there soon enough ; but I don't like to be shut up here all summer. I want to go to sea, and have a little excitement to wake us up. As everything is in the first lieutenant's hands, I shouldn't wonder if he wrecked the vessel. I don't know but we ought to do something about it."

" What can you do ? " asked the third lieutenant.

" I don't know ; we can get up a breeze, if nothing more."

" That won't do any good. Wainwright and Scott are very popular. If our own fellows had only voted for us, we should have gone in."

" Humph ! Scott is nothing but a buffoon," snarled Moirley. " It was mean for him to come here — "

" Hush ! " whispered Greenwood.

" If you did not intend that I should hear you, I suppose you would not have spoken so loud," said Scott, who happened to come within hearing of the third lieutenant as he spoke.

" Listeners never hear any good of themselves," replied Morley, stiffly.

" As you did not finish your remark, I did not hear any evil of myself," added Scott ; " unless it was, I am a buffoon, and I suppose I have no right to complain of that. You said it was not fair for me to come here ; but you did not finish the sentence."

" I did not know you were listening to me," muttered Morley.

" I was not listening to you ; but as you spoke loudly enough to be heard nearly the whole length of the ve.ssel, I could not help hearing you," continued Scott, gentl^^ " However, if you did not intend the remark for my ear, I will not ask you to finish it, though it indicates that you are in some manner dissatisfied with my conduct."

" I am," replied Morley, whose anger had got the better of his discretion.

-'•' I should be glad to know the ground of any complaint you have against me, in order that I may do what I can to remove it. If I have done anything unfair, it is contrary to my nature, and I did not intend it. If I have set up for anything, it is as a champion of fair play."

" I don't see it," growled Morley, who was depending very much upon the joker's well-known goodnature. " But you are my superior officer, and I suppose I must keep still, whatever my opinion."

" We are both off duty now, and you may speak as freely as you please."

" Well, I don't think it was fair for you and the captain to come into the Tritonia, and take the best offices from the fellows who had held them before, and were in the line of promotion," continued Morley, with a desperate effort.

" O, that's it — is it.^" laughed Scott.

" I'm not the only fellow that thinks so, either," said Morley, glancing at Greenwood. " I was first lieutenant before, and I had the right to be captain now."

"" Doesn't the right depend upon the number of votes you get?"

" Yes ; but you brought your own voters with you."

" Wasn't Captain Wainwright fairly elected?"

" I suppose he was, according to the rules. But you brought so many fellows with you from the ship, that our men were outnumbered."

'' The captain was eligible, for he was a cabin officer before. So was I ; and I don't see that there was any unfairness about it."

*' I don't mean to say that the vote was unfair," growled Morley. " But do you think it was fair yourself to shove me down, when I had been first lieutenant for several months ? "

" I don't see anything unfair about it. Were you not one of those who went for electing the officers, when I opposed it ? "

" I was ; but I have got enough of it, and I want the old way restored."

" Didn't you vote and work against Captain Wainwright and me ? "

" Of course I did."

''You did your best, I suppose."

" Certainly I did."

"Then, under the present system, I have just as much cause of complaint against you as you have against me. Am I right, or wrong.?"

" I don't think you had any right to come into the Tritonia and tip things over as you did."

" When we were transferred to her, had we not the same rights as the rest of the ship's company ? "

" Of course you had."

" We had the right to vote, and we voted to suit ourselves. If the captain and I had not worked for you and Greenwood, both of you would have been lower than you are, for our fellows and some of yours were going to make Allyn second lieutenant."

" I don't know about that."

"I do ; but I claim no merit for it," laughed Scott.

" I should think not, after you had shoved me out /)f my place." ^ •

'• We could have given you the lowest cabin office, if we had chosen."

" I don't think so. I have some friends left," added Morley, shaking his head.

" Be that as it may, the thing is done, and I don't want any hard feeling about it."

" Of course you don't. After you have knocked me down, you can afford to be magnanimous."

'* What can be done? " asked Scott, earnestly. ' " I don't know that anything can be done."

" As nearly as I can make it out, you grant that the election was fairly conducted, but some of us are to blame for what we did. I am willing to go to the principal, and ask that the elections be held over again," added Scott. "If Wainwright ought not to be captain, I am sure he does not want the place."

*' He isn't the right fellow for it," growled Morley.

" Isn't he, indeed ! " exclaimed Scott. " And I suppose I am not the right fellow for first lieutenant."

Greenwood punched his friend gently in the ribs to indicate that he was saying too much ; but the hint came too late to influence him.

" It isn't your fault that you are not," replied Morley, as tenderly as he could.

"'■ But it ib my uiistortiuie ; tiiat's the idea — is it.^ " laughed Scott.

" I think, if you will take a fair view of the subject, you Villi agree with me."

" Agree with you that Wainwright is not qualified to be captain ? "

" Of course I don't mean to say that he is not a good seaman, and a good navigator, for I don't know anything about it."

" Well, I do ; and I know that he is both," retorted Scott, rather smartly for him, for the conversation was becoming rather exciting even to him. " There is no better in this vessel, or any other of the squadron."

" I don't dispute it, for I don't know anything about it," added Morley.

" But you take it upon yourself to say that he is not fit to be the captain of the Tritonia. I had a sort of prejudice that a good seaman and a good navigator is just the person to be in command."

" You persist in misunderstanding me. Wainwright has served most of his time in tlie ship. He has had little or no experience in vessels like the Tritonia," said Morley, pettishly.

" Then you think it is a bigger thing to handle this little tub of a topsail schooner than it is to handle a full-rigged ship."

'' I don't say it is a bigger thing, but it is a different thing."

" According to the Geometry, the greater includes the less. I dare say it is my misfortune that I have been on duty in the ship during the past year."

"I don't see how you can be expected to know how to set the mainsail, and the gaii-topsail, when you haven't had an opportunity to learn," continued Morley, in rather patronizing tones.

*' And you don't even pity our ignorance," chuckled Scott.

" It seemed to me absurd to put persons into the two highest places who had had no experience in a topsail schooner."

" You really think the captain and I are lamentably ignorant ? "

" I don't say so. I was only speaking of a certain kind of experience. I was first lieutenant — executive officer — of the Tritonia several months. I know the vessel in detail ; I am accustomed to her rigging, and to her working. Greenwood has been second and third lieutenant, and understands about her as well as I do."

" What a wonderful fellow he must be ! " exclaimed Scott, laughing, as he glanced at the third lieutenant.

" I think we ought to know something about a topsail schooner," added Greenwood, vexed at the laugh of the joker.

" Certainly you ought, and no one else has any right to know anything about a topsail schooner, which I begin to think is a great institution."

" But in spite of the fact, that we two were left here, and were willing to serve — "

" I don't know that there was any doubt about your willingness to serve," interposed Scott.

'' In spite of the fact that we were here, you came from the ship and cleaned us out," continued Morley. " I don't think it was fair."

" Now, my dear Mr. Morley, whether it was fair or not, you have put it out of our reach to do anything about it," said Scott.

" What do you mean by that? "

" You have declared that the captain and I are not quahfied for the positions to which we have been elected. We must prove that we are qualified, for we cannot retire with a stigma upon us."

" I haven't said that you were not good seamen, and good officers."

".But you have said that it is our misfortune not to be able to handle a topsail schooner. I will not make it any worse than it is. Now, I think it is child's play to handle this vessel, compared with the ship ; and any one who knows where he is on board of the ship will be perfectly at home on the deck of the Tritonia."

" I don't think so."

" I can't believe the principal would have allowed us to be chosen to our present positions if we had been so lamentably incompetent."

"You use stronger terms than I do ; but I think you have proved all I said already," added Morley.

" When, and where ? " demanded Scott.

" At the drill this afternoon."

" Perhaps we did ; but I was not aware of it."

" Didn't you get snarled up when you gave the orders to set the gaff-topsail ? "

" I didn't know what I did. If I did, it was very singular, for whatever may be said of Captain Wainwright, I served as long in the Josephine as you have in the Tritonia. One of my stations was at the out-haui of the gaff-topsail ; and if there is any sail in a schooner that I think I know, that one is the gaff-topsail."

" The hands were all snarled up," muttered Morley.

" That is quite true ; but some of them did not know an out-haul from a boot-jack. If you can indicate any order that was not correctly given, I should say you had some ground of complaint ; otherwise you have not."

" My station as second lieutenant was on the forecastle ; and of course I couldn't tell about the orders in detail ; but I know there was confusion in setting the gaff-topsail."

" So there was in setting the fore-topmast staysail."

"It wasn't my fault, for the down-haul was foul," growled Morley.

"It is part of an officer's duty to have the rigging overhauled. But I think we have said enough about this business. I am sorry you are dissatisfied, Morley, and still more sorry that you have put it out of my power to do anything about it."

" But don't you think yourself that It was rather rough in you fellows to come here and shove us down ? "

" I think we have the same rights and privileges here that any one has. Since our incom^oetence is the ground of complaint against us, we have nothing to say, and shall stand on our dignity," replied Scott, as he turned on his heel, and walked aft.

" You have made a mess of it now, Morley," said Greenwood, who had prudently kept silence during most of the conversation.

" I have told him just what I think," replied Morley, smartly. "I have been shoved down, and I don't mean to submit to it without a protest. I have said what I had to say, and Scott knows my opinion of him."

" He don't seem to be very badly damaged," suggested Greenwood, for Scott had walked away as good-natured as ever.

" He understands me now, at any rate." " Of course he will tell the captain all about it." " I hope he will ; that is just what I wish him to do," answered Morley. " There's Sherman ; let's talk with him about it."

Sherman was the first midshipman. Unfortunately, he too had a " sore head," for he had expected a higher place than the one he had obtained. He was quite ready to take counsel of his superiors, and the trio agreed that neither the captain nor the first lieutenant was qualified for the position to which he was elected. Their conference was very private, and they spoke hardly above a whisper. Doubtless they had the power to do a great deal of mischief, and to place their superiors in difiicult and trying positions. By their want of zeal, or by a careless attention to the details of their duty, they could create confusion at almost any time ; and perhaps they were considering how they could throw discredit upon the first lieutenant in this manner.

Scott was a prudent fellow. He was much annoyed by what he had just discovered, but he did not do what Morley professed to desire of him — he did not say a word to Captain Wainwright about the conversation. The commander had gone below, and did not observe the conference. Scott knew that the knowledge of any dissatisfaction would annoy and embarrass him, and he determined, for the present at least, not to mention it.

After breakfast the next morning, the principal ordered another drill. The exercises at first were in detail ; that is, each sail was handled by itself by the seamen at their stations, in charge of an officer. When all liands are called, the second lieutenant is on the forecastle, the third in the waist, and the fourth on the quarter-deck. The first lieutenant, under the orders of the captain, directs all the manoeuvres. The midshipmen were stationed in the same manner ; but the fourth was required to carry orders from the executive officer when necessary. By this arrangement Greenwood was in the waist, and Morley forward. That troublesome gaff-topsail was the especial care of AUyn, who came from tho ship, and really did not understand its working.

The foresail and the mainsail were set ; then the gaff-topsail, and the head sails. Now, Allyn had been studying up his duty, and Scott kept one eye on the gafF-topsail all the time. The sail was set and furled several times, till it could be done without confusion or blundering. On the topsail-yards, at the sheets, halyards, clewlines and gaskets, all the seamen were perfectly at home, and they were required to practise only on the fore and mainsails. The latter worked veiy well under the charge of the fourth lieutenant ; but it was observed that there was a great deal of confusion at the foresail.

" Try it again ! " shouted Scott to Greenwood, who was in charge of it.

" Man the brails ! " said the third lieutenant, in a lazy tone.

Some of the boys laughed.

" Stand by the out-haul ! " added the officer.

The students laughed again.

" Let go ! Haul out," continued Greenwood.

Some let go, and some pulled. A portion of them heaved on the out-haul, and a portion on the upper brail, so that the work became a contest to see which should outpull the other.

"Avast, there! What are you about?" shouted Greenwood.

*'We are doing just what you told us," answered one of the seamen. " We manned the brails, and stood by the out-haul."

The operation was repeated, but with no better success than before. Morley was having no better luck in setting the fore-topmast staysail.

" What's the matter there ? " asked Captain Wainwright, annoyed by the confusion.

" I don't know ; they are making bad work of it, setting the foresail," replied Scott, as he walked forward.

The laughing of the boys assured him something was the matter, and he determined to observe the next trial himself.

" What is the matter, Mr. Greenwood? " he asked.

" Some of the hands don't know the brails from an out-haul," replied the third lieutenant.

" Set the sail, if you please," added Scott.

" Man the brails ! " said Greenwood.

" Are you going to set the foresail, or take it in, Mr. Greenwood ? " asked the executive officer, sternly, as he saw the seamen laughing again.

" My orders were to set it."

" And do you man the brails in the Tritonia, when you set the foresail."

" Stand by the brails, of course ; that was what I said."

" You did not say so ; but that would sound better, though it is not the first order. If you don't understand your duty, Mr. Greenwood, I will send an officer to take your place."

" Man the foresail out-haul ! " shouted Greenwood, giving the correct order this time. " Stand by the brails."

" All ready, sir ! " responded the second midshipman, who was on duty with the lieutenant.

" Let go the brails ! Haul out ! Overhaul the brails ! "

The sail was promptly and satisfactorily hauled out.

" Slack the weather vang, and man the sheet ! "

There were seamen enough to handle the sail easily, and the work was well done. ^

" Very well, Mr. Greenwood," said Scott. " Now furl it."

Scott went aft, and directed the foresail to be set and furled again ; and it was done to his satisfaction. The same confusion prevailed 'among the head sails, and the executive officer went forward again. On the forecastle he heard Morley giving wild and contrary orders, while the seamen were laughing at the confusion.

"That will do, Mr. Morley," said Scott. "You will suspend all operations till further orders."

The first lieutenant walked to the quarter-deck, and reported the state of things forward to the captain.

" Suspend him at once," said Scott, in a whisper, but very earnestly.

" You will relieve Mr. Morley from further duty, and require him to report to the vice-principal," said the captain in a loud tone.