Before the Mast - Production & Contact Info

Before the Mast (1909)
Short | Short, Drama

Before the Mast (1909)

Short | Short, Drama

John Bardon, an old fisherman, has an only daughter, who is in love with Jack Turner, a young and robust lumberman, with little else to offer her than a pair of willing and honest hands. Now the old man favors Rufus Black, the skipper of a...See moreJohn Bardon, an old fisherman, has an only daughter, who is in love with Jack Turner, a young and robust lumberman, with little else to offer her than a pair of willing and honest hands. Now the old man favors Rufus Black, the skipper of a four-masted schooner, and so informs Minnie, his daughter. But that headstrong young lady takes a violent dislike to Black and will have nothing to do with him, much to her father's chagrin and the skipper's disappointment. The opening scene of the picture shows the meeting of the old fisherman and Black, in which the latter asks for Minnie's hand. While the two men are discussing the matter, big Jack Turner and Minnie are spooning at the little home. Jack leaves, however, just in time to avoid meeting his rival, who comes in person to advance his suit. Little dreaming that his daughter would refuse to marry so great a personage as the captain of a ship, old Bardon is astounded when he sees how quickly Minnie spurns his friend's offer. Believing that the proper way to subject his daughter to his will is to deprive her of her freedom until she listens to reason, the old fisherman proceeds to lock her in her room, much to that young lady's wrath and in spite of her mother's entreaties. "She'll come to her senses soon," says the old man, as he bids the rejected suitor good-day and prepares to set about his afternoon's work. He is hardly out of the room before Betty Barr, one of the neighbor's girls, enters on a borrowing mission, and hearing the sobs of the imprisoned girl through the thin partition, she unlocks the door to find out what the trouble is. Minnie soon acquaints her with her sad predicament, and following Betty's advice, writes a note to Jack, telling him to liberate her and arrange for their marriage that very night. The good-hearted Betty promises to bear the message herself, which she does, putting it into the hands of her friend's sweetheart, who loses no time in setting about to arrange his plans for the elopement that evening. When Black calls to see it Minnie has reconsidered her determination, he stumbles onto the lovers as they are making away from the house, Minnie being rescued by means of a rope from the second story window. He at once gives the alarm, and accompanied by the irate father, follows the couple to the home of a minister nearby. They are too late, though, for the marriage ceremony is under way. Finding it useless to make any further stand against the happy pair, old Barton wisely forgives them and tenders them his blessing. But not so with the angry and disappointed rival. His cherished desire has been frustrated and he goes away nursing his wrath and burning with a thirst for revenge. He broods over the matter for several days, then hits upon a plan to satisfy his hatred for Jack and his bride. His ship about to sail, he fixes up a scheme with his mates to lay for Jack and bring him aboard the boat by force. That being accomplished, they would weigh anchor, and once out at sea this rival would be completely in his power and subject to any abuse and humiliation they might see fit to inflict upon him. The plan is carried out as arranged, and soon poor Jack is dragged, fighting every inch of the way, on deck, and then bound hand and foot and lowered into the hold, where for days he is kept a prisoner, tortured by the thought of his weeping bride alone in her misery, with no knowledge of his fate or whereabouts. A month passes before he is brought up out of the darkness and given any kind of freedom, and then only to be put to work at the most menial of tasks and subjected to the direst treatment. At last, in desperation, he turns on his persecutor and refuses to be further driven. The brutal captain draws back to strike him with a capstan bar, when Jack's right arm straightens out and the bully is laid sprawling on the deck. Screaming with rage he orders the men to seize Jack and lash him to the mast. This they soon succeed in doing. His shirt is stripped from his back, and taking a "cat-o'-nine-tails," Black orders a burly seaman to lay it on until Jack yells for mercy. The whipping over. Jack's hands are untied, a fatal error on the skipper's part, for driven to madness by his wrongs, the desperate lumberman sails into his tormentors, and such is the fury of his onslaught that he sends most of them crashing to the deck, and with a yell of derision, plunges headlong over the side of the ship into the sea. Jack is a good swimmer and is soon lost to view of those on board the ship, who give him up as gone to "Davy Jones." A small fishing smack in the distance catches the swimmer's eye and he makes for it. Taken aboard he relates his story, and for some weeks is dependent upon the kindheartedness of the simple fisher folk, who take him in and share with him their meager stores. At last a vessel bound for the home shore is sighted and Jack bids his friends farewell. We are now taken to the Bardon home, where Minnie, who is just recovering from a long illness caused by her husband's absence, is sitting in the old armchair enjoying the sunshine. A shadow falls across her vision, and looking up she gazes into the face of the hated Black, who has come to renew his suit, thinking that of course his rival is at the bottom of the sea. While he is offering his false sympathy, a shout in the distance is heard, and an answering cry which brings the blood surging into Minnie's heart and pales the swarthy face of the hypocrite. She staggers to her feet and is about to fall backward, when she is clasped in the strong arms of her returned husband and crushed to his heart. As though he had encountered one from the grave, Rufus Black is paralyzed with terror and dashes away, never more to be seen in the little harbor of Glen Cove. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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