The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-01-08
The Three C,,imneys.
A wRECEING YARN OF THE NORTH At
LANTiC.

"All over the face of creation upon
the Atlantic Ocean," said the old sailor
"if You lool: at any old chart, you will
see multitude of shoals, and particu-
larlv in the route between the principal
American ports and the English chan
nels: so that it would seem to be almost
impossible for any ship to get across
without hitting some of EN-. The prob
ability is that none of them ever had
any existence, and the way they come
on the charts was that in the olden
times. afore the ocean got to be much
travelled, whenever skipper saw any
thin that looked like shoal, which
might have been a tide rip or n dead
whale or n piece of wreck stuff, or may
be only obliquity of vision on the
part of the skipper, caused b. an extra
glass of grog, he would at once report
it on arrival as shoal. Many of these
old-time shippers. too were ambitious
to have their names onto the charts, and
as the shoals they reported was gener-
ally called either arter them OF arter
their ships. they might sometimes have
reported shoals which never didn't have
no existence except in their own imagi-
nation Thus on the chart you will see
Collins Patches Wilson'S Shoal,
'Herseygaul's Breakers 'Norton's
Lodges. the Victory Rock, and so on.
Many of these have been took off of
recent charts. and navigatOrs for long
time past have paid no attention to any
of EN-. In fact, if they ever did exist,
the surest way not to hit 'em was to run
right over where they was laid down
onto the chart, because their position
having been fixed in the old days of lu-
mar observations. and before chronOme-
ters was used. they was jist as likely to
be thirty or forty miles ont OF the way
as not, and it was hardly probable that
they would be found where they was laid
down.
"About two-thirls of the way across
to Europe, and right in the track of YES
sells. is laid down cluster of rocks
called the Three Chimneys, and every
once in while some skipper will go i'll
and report that he has seen 'em. and
will at once be set down rs liar by
hundreds of others who are sure the've
passed over EN- dozen times, and that
there amt no SIGH rocks there.
..Threc times the British Government,
fooled by sich reports. nave sent out
survevin' vessels 20 find and survey and
accurately locate these here Three
Chimnevs.' and after cruisin' amonth or
so lookin for 'em. has gone back and re-
ported that there was no SIGH rocks
there. The last time they sent ont they
dispatched two vessels and cruised all
summer. and as l know somethin of
the reason why they done so, I'll spin
YOU the yarn. and think you'll admit
it were little singular, to say the least
of it.
81 were aforc the mast in the ship
Partlcnon. of Boston, Captain Johnson,
and the mates name were Whipple-
they called him Cocky Whipple, cause
one of his eyes was slowed athwarrships
and we was bound from Boston to Liver
pool in the month of October. and think
it were in the year 1915. but / won't
be certain rs to the year but l
know we had made splendid run. hav-
in had the wind from southwest to
norwest continually, and in ten days we
was two-thirds of the way over.
''She were big lump of ship, reg
isterin' over fifteen hundred tons, and
able to carry fully two thousand, and
we had carried all three royal yards all
the time, though the breeze had been so
strong that we had only carried the
main to-gallan' sail over whole topsails
for the most of the time, and topmast
stunsail for ard, of course. On the day
Tn goin' for to tell you about The wind
had breezed from. the outhard, with
rain arter dinner; the barometer