Crossword-Solution: JACKSTAFF 9 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 28

Some of the boats had what they call a ‘night hawk’ on the jackstaff, a thing which you could see when it was in the right position against the sky or the water, though it seldom was in the right position and was generally pretty useless.

She was new then, however; a singular sort of a single-engine boat, with a Chinese captain and a Choctaw crew, forecastle on her stern, wheels in the center, and the jackstaff "nowhere," for I steered her with a window-shutter, and when we wanted to land we sent a line ashore and "rounded her to" with a yoke of oxen.

The vessel swung into the stream, her paddles turned, the great green flag with the orange crown imperial flapped at the jackstaff, and the town dropped rapidly astern.

The tall trees on the bank loomed up darkly against the cloudy sky, throwing a sombre shade almost across the river, and leaving only a bright, silvery streak in the middle, which showed as plainly as the “night-hawk” on the jackstaff.

Men, women and children were gathered there; some crouching timidly at the foot of the jackstaff, watching the fire, which was rapidly approaching them, and others running frantically about searching for missing relatives or friends, or shrieking with terror, and appealing for the help which never came.