Sea

Isn't this Rural New Hampshire? Why the Sea?

However “commonplace” they professed their “interest in the movements of the Army and Navy” to be, though, their passion for military adventures informed their nautical narratives, with ocean-bound battles figuring heavily in their choice of subject matter. Given the fact that “four Goshen boys” had enlisted “immediately” for the Spanish American War “with the best wishes of the town and hearty cheers,” the notion of striking out to commit heroic acts of war was very close to home for the Nelson brothers (Sketches of Our Home Life, Volume 2, p. 15-16). Thus, it is no surprise that so many of their protagonists shot, battled, and navigated o’er the briny depths, as the brothers may well have imagined themselves following in the older Goshen boys’ footsteps one day. 

In Nelson Narratives:

At the Mast:

At the Mast chronicles a war between fictional Chipewa and Big continent that occurred in 1898. Though undermanned and out-resourced, the Chipewa forces boast a formidable captain in Harry Nelson – “a great, broad-shouldered sailor, deep of chest and of great muscular ability” – and “brave, daring men who, if they were ordered to, would stand before a cannon’s mouth with no outward sign of fear.” Talk about a gutsy crew!

After substantial preparation of their ship, “The New York,” Captain Nelson makes his way to the mast, where he consults his first lieutenant, exclaiming “Now, unless I’m mistaken, we’re in for some fun!” The two boldly proclaim that they hope to run into “the Big Continent squadron,” an instance of foreshadowing that gives way merely to a few placid days at sea.

One morning, “just at sunrise,” columns of smoke suddenly appear in the distance, and The New York’s lookouts catch sight of ships – Big Continent ships! These ships approach rapidly, firing upon the New York “with a deafening roar.” The New York men “immediately answered,” firing thirteen-inch guns and stoking their engine for further combat. Rather abruptly, the narrative ends, having worked the reader into such breathless expectation!

The Popies Cruse:

The Popies Cruse dives immediately into sea-battle action. The narrator begins by describing two ships – “The Pipies” – and the trajectory of their cruise – “a long the coast of Ceongea” – before abruptly launching into a battle tale, when “a small cutter” advances toward them from Bronsvick. Captain Birt hastily fires at the cutter, only to receive a “volley of bullets” in return, and opts to send two boats out to attempt to “board” the cutter – and presumably lay waste to its crew. Unfortunately, a “canon bullet” decimates one of these boats, and the cutter’s men reach the Pipies before Birt’s men can reach the cutter. A few of the cutter’s men make it onto the Pipies, but the crew makes quick work of them, capturing some and “cut[ting] down others.” Then, Captain Eathen Allen arrives – presumably via his own ship – and handily convinces the cutter’s crew to “give up,” allowing the Pipies’ men to take them prisoner.

Shortly thereafter, the Popie sails to a “strong hold” at Darien, which resembles a “bull fight pen” to young Jimmy Allen. Eathen corrects his son, deeming it a “fort,” and urges him to forego the impending battle in order to care for his mother and sister, Alice (Alice is a recurring female presence throughout the boys’ narratives: see the “Girls” section for more). The Popie then lands ashore, and the men spring “quick as a flash” into action, ransacking the fort with great vigor and dexterity. The crew throws their caps into the air to celebrate, shouting a big “hurrah” for Eathen Allen’s leadership prowess in guiding the endeavor.

 

The Popie – Birt’s ship – is not out of the woods yet, however. Immediately upon returning to the water, a “tough old” ship challenges the crew, provoking a “terrible battle” that ends with the Popie nearly sinking and the crew taking to rowboats for survival. They send the ship to New Hampshire for repair, and head for Savannah, because “we heard of some trouble” there. Jimmy – a “sharp eyed little chap” – soon spies another ship on the horizon, which just as soon interrupts a cruise that was “getting a long beautifully” with yet another volley. The Popie’s guns “square round” and return fire, and Jimmy scrambles up the sails to watch the action. Eighteen Popie guns produce two holes in the enemy vessel, “punch[ing]” “piles” of holes through its sail and “nock[ing]” its prow off as well. A bullet then whizzes by Jimmy’s head, severing three yards of wood from the mast, but this was the only damage that the Popie took on, save for some negligible holes in the sail. The Popie crew’s cheerful tone in answering Eathen Allen’s battle cries precludes any fear in Jimmy throughout this whole exchange.

This cheerful tone pervades subsequent narration as, when the smoke clears away, Eathen Allen remarks: “She is sinking boys.” The enemy war ship is described as “roling and pitching in the trough of the sea,” as members of the Popie crew are “hollering” and jump out into the ocean for a little victory swim. Alice, who was previously laughing at the enemy’s demise in the ship’s cabin, enjoys an exuberant moment of celebration with Jimmy on deck, and Jimmy – “the next minute” – commences to wave a victory flag. The narrative ends with the news that two ships are coming to relieve the Pipies from duty, and a letter from “our other p[e]ople,” summoning them home to New Hampshire. Young Jimmy jumps for joy – quite literally – at the prospect of a homecoming. 

Jim’s Cruise:

Jim’s Cruise relays the tale of a boy named Jim who does not know much about sailing at first, but “had just found a chance to go on board of a ship” bound for Round Island. Though he professes that such a trip would be “great fun,” he gets seasick shortly thereafter, and leaves the vessel upon reaching Fork River, taking a stick with him as he combs a “steep cliff.” He spies some eagles, and immediately begins searching for a way to get close to their nest. After a little poking around, he finds a clear path to their nest, and – after hearing the “rush of wings” – promptly begins brutally assaulting the two eagles and tossing them over the cliff “a piece” before returning to the ship.

The crew stayed in the harbor at Fork River for three days (or perhaps five? The narrator seems endearingly confused). A storm approaches and the men “tried to get to some island but they saw they couldn’t.” (So much for the resiliency of the Chipewa crew in the above narrative!) Then the storm hit “with all fury,” taking two masts and “several men” down overboard with it. The crew tries to press on, but they can’t go very fast with only one mast. Eventually, they arrive at Coast Range City, and Jimmy remarks – inexplicably – that, “he had had quite a nice time.”

Given the haphazard narrative style and lack of credible causality, this story was likely written by a Nelson brother at an earlier stage in his development. Nonetheless, it offers an intriguing window into the mind of a very young boy as he attempts to conceive of an adventure at sea!

In Nelson Sketches:

Below, the Nelson brothers exhibit marvelous dexterity in assembling a raft from scratch, which they use to “pole” around a pond. Though this is no sea-faring adventure, it is still quite a feat!

“For dinner Elmer cooked some hasty-pudding which was fine in itself but camping gave it an extra-fine flavor. After dinner, or about three o'clock Elmer went down to the pond to cut up a big spruce which had been fallen by a previous camper while Arthur was getting more birch-bark and I was bringing wood up to the camp. In an hour or two Elmer shouted up to us and said he had got the logs cut and wanted Arthur to come down and help him put them together for the raft we were planning to build. We had no spikes, and so the front-end of the raft the boys fastened together by wooden-pins (we had an auger) and the other end as solidly as possible with nails.

When the raft was completed the boys shoved it into the water and getting a pole to propel it with I took my rifle and stepped aboard. it was only three logs wide and very ‘tippy’ but I poled it out carefully away from land and to try my skill in shooting from a canoe fired my rifle at a big white-birch on shore. Arthur ran around the end of the pond to see if I had hit it and found that the ball had gouged out a long furrow across one side of the trunk” (Sketches of Our Home Life, Volume 1, p.22).