The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-03-05
An Old Sailors Yarn


Osbon gave his second Of An Old
Sailors Yarns, At the Metropolitan
temple. before an audience of about one
hundred and fifty persons. His sryls
is very pleasing, andShis anecdotes are
interesting and instructive. 10 the old
ss well as the young folks He explains
every thing as he goes along. by the
aid OF large map of the world and by
drawings on the blackboard
Last Saturday the Captain gave his
first Yarn in which he related the
experience aud adventures of his boy
hood. He commenced yesterday With
his
FIRST VOYAGE To ENGLAND.
made a short cruise from New
York to Liverpool. staying there but a
short time, but long enough to gel. an
insight into the manners aud custom
of the people. Ga my return / wen,
10 New Bedford, and here shipped fol
long whaling voyage. From New
Bedford we sailed south, crossing the
Equator, then around Cape Good Hope
We cruised in thst vicinity few weeks
then sailed for the Antarctic Ocean.
Here we got small whale. (our first,
which yielded us about ten barrels o,
oil, and about as much meat as two
bullocks. There was an old gentle
man aboard. passenger with us, who
had afew pigs. and as the old fellow
was very well liked his pigs got very
good attention; the styes were cleaned
out every morning and the pigs washed
they were the cleauest animals ever
saw, and when it was stormy and cold
crawl in and keep warm with the pigs
In this Ocean icebergs were numerous.
have often seen them fifteen times
the size of the ship He exhibited q
drawing on the black board. showing
the relative sizes of ship and an ice
berg
remember the first cyclone i ever
experienced It was just after we left
the Antartic Ocean. and were sailing
northward TO the Pacific. | was on
deck. and saw very peculiar bub-
bling in the water. | rushed 10 the
compauionway and called the Captain,
He came Immediately OH deck, and
knew what was the matter as soon as
he had glanced at the sea and sky.
All sails were taken In and everything
was made fast, and his prompt action
saved our lives. and prevented the
shib from going down to the bottom.
Our preparations had hardly teen COM
pleted when the most terrific gale imag-
Unable was upon Us; but we survived
it with the loss of only few sails.
We felt an earthquake o few week
afterward. as we were nearing the
Equator. We finally reached New
Zealand. The pespls here are differ
ent from the people described in books;
shall never forget the place. We
were at anchor in a small bay. that
was full Of sharks; have often heard
that sharks would not eat . man. but |
don't care abou, trusting myself within
their recsh. A negro was pulling out
to the ship one day, when somebody
called him from the shore; he turned
around suddenly and acciden.ly threw
himself into the water; large shark
happened to be near at the time, rushed
to his rescue and took him under.
At this place our Captain took in q
whole cargo OF peaches. ! could not
imagine what he was going to do with
so many. for they were not particularly
nice. They were put in large casks and
then covered with molaSses. and when
we went into S.inter quarters in the
Arctic Ocsan. one Of these peaches was
served out toieach one of US every morn.
ing. and this prevented Us from having
the scarvy.
The strangest people ever met are
the Tongess. people living on the island
of Tonga,aboo, near the Friendly Is
lands. These islands are under the
control of the missionaries. who will
Obtain control of the chief, anil it is
impossible To trade with the natives, or
to.sget wha, you want. unless the mis-
siousries get a good share of the profits,
There has been a good deal OF tr, u5le
on these Islands with the missionai.s :
they often have fights among them
selves, ono or the other trying 10 gain
the supremacy; sometimes the Romsl
Catholic missionaries, and sometimes
the Protestant missionaries will get The
control, bat these two sects are always
quarrelling there. / have been 10 their
houee.. and they oil keep liquor
aud drink great deal. There is very
little religion On the Islands The
next place we touched at was The
gIGI ISLANDS.
We went ashore here the first.day
we'll Supplied with whales teeth. You
NAV wonder what We wanted with
them; they are used in place of money
aud are much better than diamons. II
g young native fellow wanted TO marry
girl, he takes whales tooth and
presents it to the parents OF the damssl
aud they Immediately give their CO..