Washington sentinel., 1854-01-06
such sport without disgnst; |; and ! have sworn

such sport without disgust; and have sworn
never to njure porpoise"
allows thatp said Sam. You must have
had some str ing reason for taking such an
oath and you must tell us all about il, if you
have to spin yarn as long as the hyingjib
down-haul."
The hardy crew Of the Lobster gathered
around Calico Jack, insisting on hearing his
story. The poor fellow held off as long as pos
sible, but at last, after making very wry face
and bringing himself to anchor on the windlass
end, gave in, SAYING Well, ! suppose must
spin you my yarn, if l hope for quiet lie; /;
and If you have any wish to know my expert
ence in fishing in general and my opportuni-
i ties of studying the habits of the porpoise in
particular, lend me your ears, as the monkey
said when he sliced off the cats listening tackle
/ with one of the captains razors.D
The crew gathered around Calico Jack, for
4 a good yarn is the delight of a sailor. Jack
was popular among the ships company could
sing q good song and talk like book. They
expected something interesting, and listened,
with exemplary attention, while he proceeded
with his fish story as follows:
1 8It is now just three years, seven months
and nineteen days, since ! sailed from New
| York in the ship Pocahontas, of three hundred
and fifty tons, bound to St Jago, in the Cape
de Verbs; thence to Rio Janeiro. The Poca-
hontas was good ship and we'll formed; the
| captain was an honest man and real sailor,
and the officers were not SO bad as they might
have been. On the whole, there was little to
! find fault with, for / doubt not all hands were
4 treated with as much kindness and indulgence
as they deserved we got along very har-
moniously together.
GAS we drew up towards the Cape de Verbs,
the wind was light, and the weather was pleas
ant, and the ships bottom being little foul,
large number of fish made their appearance
dolphins bonetas, and albicores. They seemed
to say-Catch me and eat mel in such an
imploring way, while they sported in the water
beneath the bows, that no man, with the heart
of -stock-fsh, could possibly withstand the
temptation to capture them--or at least make
the attempt If | ever had asweakness, OF
which there may be some doubt, it was an ex-
cessive fondness for fishing. Trout in the fresh
water streams of New Hampshire, my native
State; pickerel in her pondscod on the bank
Of Newfoundland in the West
Indies-halibut on Georges Shoal--porpoises
in the broad ocean-or dolphin and bonetas in
the tropics-it was all one to Jack. ! loved
the sport, and INDUCED my fondness for it
/ whenever and wherever / had chance. You
will therefore mot be surprised, shipmates, that
| / hailed with great glee the appearance OF va
rious kinds of fish aroHnd the Pocahontas, as
we we're drawing up towards the Cape de Verd
/ Islands.
ain those DAYS never went voyage to sea
without being well provided with fishing gear
of all kinds. I had hooks of various sizes, from
halibut hook, double shanked for an albicore,
and ganged with stout wire, down to q hook
small enough to catch a rudder fsh-and many
we're the hours of my watch below, passed on
the flying jib-boom-end, trying to hook boneta
Or on the martingale, with the gainse, at
tempting to strike a dolphin. And as neither
the captain or the mates cared much about fish
ing, had it pretty much all my own way
Zone unlucky day, after we had made Bona
vista, and were standing in for st. Jago, with a
moderate breeze, heard cry on deck, of
'dolphin-two big dolphin right under the bowsF
1t was about six bells in the afternoon. was
busily engaged in making up some old duck
into pair Of trowsers, at the time-but the
moment / heard the words ( big dolphin ]
dropped my duck like a red hot marlinspike,
took couple of large hooks, stoutly ganged,
out of my chest, instinctively put them in my
pocket and rushed on deck. 2l
"sWhere are the dolphinsp exclaimed, as
seized the grainse, which was lying on the
| forecaste. But at that moment black squall
was rapidly rising to windward, and the watch
were too busy in taking in sail to attend to my
questions. sprang up between the night
heads, and in less than two minutes wss
standing on the lower martingale stay, with one
4 arm around the martngale. / saw one of the
dophins-a big fellow he was tool The squall
was close aboard ofus, coming thick and heavy!
and was too eager to secure my fish, to attend
1 properly to my own safety. | made furious
throw at the dolphin, with what effect know
not-for with the effort missed my hold, and
fell overheard The squal struck the ship at
the same time, and as the old Pocahontas flew
past me while was struggling in the foam,
4 heard one of my shipmates cry out in voice of
4 terror, A man overheard g--at the same time
4 that the captain shouted in voice of thunder,
i Let go the topsail halliards, fore and aftl'
\ IL was good swimmer, and hen-coop from
\ the quarter deck was tossed overheard at once,
which padded towards in quick time, and got
4 hold of; but the squall blew with great yio-
/ lence, and was attended with considerable rain.
4 OF course / lost sight of the ship in a few
\ minutes, and saw with q glance that there
4 was but slender chance for poor Pilgarlick !;
and, let me tell you, shipmates, there are many
/ better berths for an honest fellow in this life
than to be struggling alone in the wide ocean,
with nothing to buoy you up but a hen-coop,
4 and no ship in sight! ! hope you may never
Il
| have occasion to try it.
1Thesquall lasted for an hour, and raised such
| a commotion among the waves that l could
| hardly retain my station on the hen-coop, and
was sometimes compelled to swallow more salt
water than was altogether agreeable, or good
| for ones health. When the weather cleared
mp raised my head as high out of water as /
| could and looked around for the ship, but no
ship was in sight The Pocahontas had gone
on her way rejoicing, and left Jack Calimanco
behind!
"But true sailor will never despair--he will
never dowse his flag so long as there is a shot
in the locker---and although, as night was COM
! ing on and matters looked rather dark and
dreary, really wished myself on the deck Of q
good ship-yet called philosophy to my aid,
and reflected that my condition, though bad
enough in all conscience might have been
worse. / still had a hen-coop to cling to
through the night, and might by an extra
ordinary piece Of good luck, be picked up by .
- n - Al -