Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-02-15
Davy Jones Locker.

Inc phrase "Davy Jones Locker is
! familiar to every body, but its origin is not
so well known. The following is the
| theory, as it runneth in the grimy
recesses of the fo'caste:
Once upon time there was captain,
and he was a nautical Tartar. He thought
10 more Of tricing up a poor devil CT {.
tar and giving him couple OF dozen
than he did OF knocking Il man down be-
cause the wind was ahead, or his corns
bothered him, or any other good cause.
His mates We're of the same kidney with
himself. and made it pretty warm tor the
crew, or such of them as the captain had
not left hors dc combat. Well, the ship
she was Il Whaler-came into port short
handed, half OF the cIew having deserted
ut Madeira, and three Of them having
Dies, whom the captain, who was chief
owner of the vessel, also entered in the
log is dcserters, for that gave him the
right to collar their wages and exits
Then he shipped a new crew, mostly
"Dagos' and such trash, for no white
man would 60 with them, except one. a
Welshman named Davy Jones, who didn't
see any other way of getting home to
Europe.
The ship was bound to Cardiff, and the
captain was anxious to make a quick
passage; bat as 1t happened, the winds
were against HIM, and he was three weeks
out before he passed the banks of New
foundland, and this put him in a precious
rage. He took it out of the crew all he
could, but licking a Dago was tame fun
for him, and he wanted to refresh MIN
self with taste of white blood, while,
| as it happened, the only candidate on
board OF that complexion was Jones,
whom he could never get fail excuse
for tricing up. Jones was such prompt,
| obedient sailor that his captain fairly
hated the sigh. of him. At last, one
day, as Jones was takil G his turn at the
VIII eel, the captain came up, and gave an
, order which couldn't be obeyed without
throwing her beam ends, and Jones mild
ly explained as much; whereupon the
captain put him IN irons tor mutiny.
That got the Welshman's hot blood up,
and he talked back. So the captain
had him up and went for his cat.
Strip" says the captain, and I'LL be,
etc. if l do says Jones. There was
tussle and fight, and the long and short
of it was that the captain got the worst
of it. Then the captain gets UP with
very bad look in his eyes, Bring out that
lubbers luggage" and they bring Davy's
box on deck. pitch out his CORY traps"
and the sailors empty Jones traps on
deck. "SeI HIM up in a canvas sack
and put him in his CORY chest" says the
captain; and you may be sure he didn't
have to give the order twice. Poor Davy
Jones was thrust neck and crop into his
own chest. Throw open that Ice gang
way" says the captain, and it was done
"PIpe all hands to the funeral service
says the captain; and all hands were
duly summoned, and he says 81 am going
to have a funeral SERVICE" and he slams
down the cover of the box and gives it
shove overheard. Jones hadn't SAID a
word all this while except once, when he
says to the captain, in words which time
and the poetic atmosphere of the fo castle
have crystalized into heroic couplet:
While seas is salt and timbers float,
You'll never beat me into port"
And, sure enough, they never die; for,
no matter how the wind blew and the
sea rose, it was always head wind and
bad sea for the captain, and when the
gale was tiercest, and the seas running
mountains high, they used to see Davy
Jones sitting on the weather quarter of
his locker, to keep it trimmed, and a
holding on to the sheet of his canvas,
which he had hoisted as storm-sail, and
a-riding the waves as free as dory. And
it is fact, vouched for by scores of
truthful sailors, and contided to count
less marines, that whenever vessel
crosses the Grand Banks, and the wealth
or is particularly bad, you can see by the
help of a good glass, Or glass and a
halt, an old fashioned bark, riding in the
teeth of the gale with every sail set, but
without an inch of way on; and if you
look IL little to windward, and with the
eye of faith, you will see what looks like
a coffin riding free On the pillows, and
never shipping sea, though the waves be
high enough to swamp Cunarder. Then
you will know that you have seen Davy
Jones and his locker, and if YOU be a
| wise man Won will NOT wont 4o eoo 49,