The "Eva Maria"

________________________________________________
Title:     The "Eva Maria"
Author: Anthon B. E. Nilsen [More Titles by Nilsen]

"Close on seven-and-thirty years now since I came aboard as skipper of the Eva Maria, and you can understand, Nils Petter, it's a bit queer like for me to be handing her over now to anyone else," said old Bernt Jorgensen solemnly. His brother, Nils Petter, listened respectfully.

"Never a thing gone wrong. I've always been able to reckon out exactly what the four trips to Scotland and Holland each summer brought in; but then, as you know, Nils Petter, I didn't go dangling about on shore with the other skippers, throwing money away on whisky and such-like trash."

"No, you've always been a steady one," said Nils Petter quietly.

"Ay, steady it is, and steady it's got to be, and keep a proper account of everything. In winter, when I was at home with the mother, I'd always go through all expenses I'd had the summer past; that way I could keep an eye on every little thing."

"Ay, you've been careful enough about little things, that's true. I remember that tar bucket we threw overboard once. We never heard the last of it all that winter."

"It's just that very thing, Nils Petter, that I've got to thank for having a bit laid by, or anyhow, the Eva Maria's free of debt, and that's all I ask." Old Bernt was not anxious to go into details as to the nice little sum he had laid up with Van Hegel in Amsterdam, not to speak of the little private banking account that had been growing so steadily for years.

"Not but that I've need enough to earn a little more," he went on; "but I've made up my mind now to give up the sea, though it's hard to leave the old Eva Maria that's served me so well."

Bernt Jorgensen had been very doubtful about handing over the vessel to Nils Petter's command. Nils was a good seaman enough, but with one serious failing: he invariably ran riot when he got ashore, and there was no holding him.

Still, Nils Petter was his only brother, and perhaps when he found himself skipper he would come to feel the responsibility of his position, and improve accordingly. Anyhow, one could but try it.

Nils Petter stood watching his brother attentively, as the latter solemnly concluded: "Well, you're skipper of the Eva Maria from now on, Nils Petter, and I hope and trust you'll bear in mind the duty you owe to God and your owners."

Nils Petter grasped his brother's hand and shook it so heartily that Bernt could feel it for days--it was at any rate a reminder that Nils Petter had serious intentions of reforming.

But Nils Petter was the happy man! First of all, he had to go ashore and tell the good news to his old friend, Trina Thoresen, who, it may be noted, had been one of his former sweethearts. She had married Thoresen as the only means of avoiding a scandal, and murmured resignedly as she did so: "Ah, well, it can't be helped. Nils Petter can't marry us all, poor fellow!"

Nils Petter's large, round face was one comprehensive smile, and his huge fists all but crushed the life out of Schoolmaster Pedersen, who was impudent enough to offer his hand in congratulation. "Skipper!" said Nils Petter. "Captain, you mean--he--he!" and he laughed till the houses echoed half-way up the street, and Mrs. Pedersen looked out of the window to see what all the noise was about.

Nils Petter was undoubtedly the most popular character in the town; he was intimate with every one, regardless of sex or social standing.

"A cheery, good-natured soul," was the general estimate of Nils Petter--somewhat too cheery, perhaps, at times; but never so much so that he abused his gigantic strength, of which wonderful stories were told. At any rate it took a great deal to move him to anger.

He was in constant difficulties about money, for as often as he had any to spare, he would give it away or lend it. Now and again, when especially hard up, he would apply to his "rich brother" as he called him, and never failed to receive assistance, together with a long sermon on the evils of extravagance, which he listened to most penitently, but the meaning of which he had never to this day been able to realise himself.

Well, now we shall see how he got on as officer in command of the Eva Maria, vice that careful old model of a skipper, Bernt Jorgensen. The vessel was fixed for Dundee, with a cargo of battens from Drammen, and Bernt had himself seen to everything in the matter of stores and provisions, etc., according to the old régime. Nils Petter certainly found the supplies of meat and drink on board a trifle scanty--drink, especially so. Six bottles of fruit syrup--h'm. Nils Petter thought he might at least make a cautious suggestion. "Say, Brother Bernt, you're sure you haven't forgotten anything. Fresh meat, for instance, and a bottle or so of spirits?"

"Never has been spirits on board the Eva Maria," answered Bernt shortly. And Nils Petter was obliged to sail with fruit syrup instead.

Just outside Horten, however, they were becalmed, and the Eva Maria anchored up accordingly.

"D'you know this place at all, Ola?" said Nils Petter to his old friend Ola Simonsen, the boatswain, as they got the anchor down.

"Surely, Captain--know it? Why, I was here with the old Desideria serving my time."

"Right you are, then. We'll get out the boat and go on shore first for a look round."

It was late that night when they returned, Nils Petter at the oars, and Ola sleeping the sleep of the just in the bottom of the boat. Nils Petter was singing and laughing so he could be heard half a mile off. After considerable effort he managed to hoist the boatswain over the vessel's side, the whole crew laughing uproariously, including Nils Petter himself, who was quite pleased with the whole adventure, and cared not a jot for discipline and his dignity as skipper.

Ola Simonsen having been safely deposited on board, Nils Petter handed up a number of items in addition. One large joint of beef, six pork sausages, one ham, one case of tinned provisions, and one marked significantly, "Glass: with care."

Towards morning a light, northerly breeze sprang up, and they weighed anchor again. Nils Petter, instead of pacing the after-part with his hands behind his back, as became the dignity of a captain, came forward and took up his post beside the windlass, sent the rest of the crew briskly about their business, and fell to singing with the full force of his lungs, till the agent on the quay went in for his glasses to see what was happening.

Nils Petter was the very opposite of his brother, who would make a whole voyage without saying a word to his crew except to give the necessary orders. Nils Petter, on the other hand, chatted with the men and lent a hand with the work like any ordinary seaman. Altogether, the relations between captain and crew were such as would have been thoroughly pleasant and cordial ashore.

There were beefsteaks for dinner as long as the beef lasted out, and Nils Petter shared in brotherly fashion with the rest--there was no distinction of rank on board in that respect; it was an ideal socialistic Utopia!

The case marked "Glass: with care" was opened, and each helped himself at will, till only the straw packing remained. It was a cheery, comfortable life on board, as all agreed, not least Nils Petter, who laughed and sang the whole day long. No one had ever dreamed of such a state of things on board the Eva Maria, least of all Bernt Jorgensen, who was fortunately in ignorance of the idyllic conditions now prevailing in his beloved ship.

The only occasion throughout the voyage when any real dissension arose between Nils Petter and his crew was when opening one of the tins brought on board at Horten. The contents defied identification despite the most careful scrutiny. The label certainly said "Russian Caviare," but Nils Petter and the rest were none the wiser for that. A general council was accordingly held, with as much solemnity as if the lives of all were in peril on the sea.

"I've a sort of idea the man in the shop said eat it raw," ventured Nils Petter.

Ola Simonsen was reckless enough to try.

"Ugh--pugh--urrrgh!" he spluttered. "Of all the...."

"Itsch--hitch--huh!" said Thoresen, the mate. "Better trying cooking it, I think." (This Thoresen, by the way, was the husband of Trina Thoresen, before mentioned, and a good friend of Nils Petter, who, in moments of exaltation would call him brother-in-law, which Thoresen never seemed to mind in the least.)

While the tin of caviare was under discussion, all on board, from the ship's boy to the captain, were assembled in the forecastle, intent on the matter in hand. So much so, indeed, that the Eva Maria, then left to her own devices, sailed slap into a schooner laden with coal, that was rude enough to get in her way.

Fortunately, no great damage was done beyond carrying away the schooner's jib-boom, and matters were settled amicably with the schooner's captain, whom Nils Petter presented with an odd spar he happened to have on deck and the six bottles of fruit syrup, which he was only too pleased to get rid of. And the Eva Maria continued her course in the same cheerful spirit as heretofore.

Nils Petter's first exploit on arriving at Dundee was to send the harbour-master headlong into the dock, whence he was with difficulty dragged out. He got off with a fine of £20, which was entered in the ship's accounts as "unforeseen expenses."

Those on board found themselves comfortable enough, the skipper being for the most part ashore. This, however, was hardly fortunate for the owner, as Nils Petter's shore-going disbursements were by no means inconsiderable, including, as they did, little occasional extras, such as £2, 10s. for a plate-glass window in the bar of the "Duck and Acid-drop," through which aforesaid window Nils had propelled a young gentleman whom he accused of throwing orange-peel.

At last the Eva Maria was clear of Dundee, and after Nils Petter had provisioned her according to his lights--which ranged from fresh meat to ginger-beer and double stout--there remained of the freight money just on £7. This he considered was not worth sending home, and invested it therefore in a cask of good Scotch whisky, thinking to gladden his brother therewith on his return.

Nils Petter and the Eva Maria then proceeded without further adventure on their homeward way, arriving in the best of trim eight days after.

The first thing to do was to go up to the owners and report. Nils Petter was already in the boat, with the whisky, and Ola Simonsen at the oars.

"What the devil am I to say about the money?" muttered Nils Petter to himself, as he sat in the stern. For the first time since the voyage began he felt troubled and out of spirits.

"Fair good voyage it's been, Captain," said Ola, resting on his oars.

"Ay, fair good voyage is all very well, but the money, Ola, what about that?"

Ola lifted his cap and scratched his head. "Why, you haven't left it behind, then, Captain, or what?"

"Why, it's like this, Ola; there's expenses, you know, on a voyage--oh, but it's no good trying that on; he knows all about it himself. H'm ... I wish to goodness I could think of something."

Nils Petter frowned, and looked across at the cask of whisky. Ola, noticing the direction of his glance, observed consolingly that it ought to be a welcome present. "Ay, if that was all," said Nils Petter, "but the beggar's a teetotaller."

They landed at the quay. Nils Petter and Ola got the cask ashore, and rolled it together over to Bernt Jorgensen's house. The owner was out in the garden, eating cherries with the parson, who had come to call.

At sight of the latter, Nils Petter gave Ola a nudge, and ordered him to take the cask round the back way, while he himself walked solemnly up to his brother and saluted.

"You've made a quick voyage," said Bernt Jorgensen, his voice trembling a little. "I'd been expecting to hear from you by letter before now, though." And he looked up sternly.

"Yes--yes, I suppose ... you're thinking of the freight," said Nils Petter, inwardly deciding that it might be just as well to get it over at once, especially now the parson was here.

"It was always my way to send home the freight money as soon as I'd drawn it," said Bernt Jorgensen quietly.

"Expenses come terribly heavy in Dundee just now," said Nils Petter. "And--and--well, it's hard to make ends meet anyhow these times."

Here an unexpected reinforcement came to his aid. The parson nodded, and observed that he heard the same thing on all sides; hard times for shipping trade just now. The parson, indeed, never heard anything else, as his parishioners invariably told him the same story, as a sort of delicate excuse for the smallness of their contribution.

When the brothers were alone, Nils Petter had to come out with the truth, that all he had to show for the trip was one cask of whisky. "That I brought home, meaning all for the best, Bernt, and thinking £7 wasn't worth sending."

Bernt, however, was of a different opinion, and delivered a lengthy reprimand, ending up with the words, "The Eva Maria's never made a voyage like that before. Ah, Nils Petter, I'm afraid you're the prodigal son."

Nils Petter bowed his head humbly, but reflected inwardly that if all the prodigal sons had been as comfortably off on their travels as he had on that voyage, they wouldn't have been so badly off after all.

As for the cask of whisky, Nils Petter was ordered to drive in with it to Drammen and sell it there, which he did, after first privately drawing off six bottles and supplying the deficiency with water.

If Bernt Jorgensen had had his doubts the first time Nils Petter went on board the Eva Maria as skipper, his misgivings now were naturally increased a thousand-fold. Nils Petter, however, promised faithfully to reform, and send home a thumping remittance, if only he might be allowed to make one more voyage. And in the end, Bernt, with brotherly affection, let him have his way.

This time the charter was for Niewendiep, or "Nyndyp," as it was generally called, which port Bernt knew inside and out, as he said, so that Nils Petter could not palm off any fairy-tales about it.

The voyage was as quick as the preceding one, and, less than four weeks from sailing, Nils Petter appeared once more rowing in to the quay. This time, however, he brought with him, not a cask of whisky, but "something altogether different"--in honour of which the Eva Maria was decked out with all the bunting on board.

Bernt Jorgensen had come down himself to the waterside on seeing the vessel so beflagged, as it had not been since the day of his own wedding, thirty years before. He stood shading his eyes with one hand, as he watched Nils Petter in the boat coming in. "What on earth was that he had got in the stern? Something all tied about with fluttering red ribbons."

"Hey, brother!" hailed Nils Petter joyfully, standing up in the boat. "Here's a remittance, if you like!" And he pointed to a buxom young woman who sat nodding and smiling at his side. Without undue ceremony he hoisted the lady by one arm up on to the quay, and the pair stood facing Bernt, who stared speechlessly from one to the other.

"Here's your brother-in-law, my dear," said Nils Petter in a dialect presumably meant for Dutch, nudging the fair one with his knee in a part where Hollanders are generally supposed to be well upholstered. The impetus sent her flying into the arms of Bernt, who extricated himself humidly.

"Her name's Jantjedina van Groot, my good and faithful wife," Nils Petter explained. Bernt Jorgensen, who had not yet recovered from his astonishment, only grunted again and again: "H'm--h'm----" and made haste towards home, followed by Nils Petter and his bride.

This time nothing was said about the freight money, which was just as well for all concerned, seeing it had all been spent in the purchase of various household goods and extra provisions with which to celebrate the occasion. Nils Petter's new relations in Holland, too, had had to be treated in hospitable fashion--which was just as well for them, since he never called there again!

Bernt Jorgensen decided that it would be more economical to pension off Nils Petter, and get a skipper of the old school to take over the Eva Maria; after which there was rarely any trouble about the freight money.

"Ah, but expenses now aren't what they were in my time," Nils Petter would say.

Which, in one sense, was perfectly true.

[The end]
Anthon B. E. Nilsen's short story: "Eva Maria"

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN