The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-08-23
SOME ROYAL YARNS.

waiting III IIlS DdTSe OlnCe dI IHe Ddb-
terry recently, the Conversation turned
toward the adventures and accidents
that fall to the lot of seafaring men in
general. ''It's been my experience"
a red-faced man said, ''that it is the
small things in life that do the most
damage. Some few years had sec
ond mate that had sailed with me when
we were boys and off and on ever since.
He might have .been master years ago,
but he would drink. What that man
went through was caution He was
cast away half dozen times, and twice
he had to eat human flesh to save him
self. Once he fell from the mizzen
royal yard when the ship was lying to
in gale of wind, but we picked kim
up, and lost two hands in doing it. In
fact, he seemed to bear a charmed life
if any one ever did, but he was finally
killed by q fish about six inches long.
You may laugh, but come aboard my
vessel tonight and I'll show up the log.
We were bound for Bermuda with load
of coal for the Government. We were
bowling along one afternoon with ten
knot breeze, and as it was smooth we
had the main hatch open to cool the
ship. My mate stood by the combing
of the hatch, when all at once ten or
fifteen flying fish came aboard; not
these soft kind with long wings. but
what they call gurnards, with heads+es,
hard as rock To make long story
short, one of them struck him 0H the
forehead such blow that l heard itSat
the wheel. He staggered q minute,
threw up his arms and fell backward
into the hole and broke his neck"
That certainly is curious case" a
L Il J. -
In the spring of 1880 l arrived in Bos-
ton from Liverpool. We came 10 town
by Fort Warren, and after everything
had been made snug. the men stripped
and went in swimming. Istood on she
quarterback watching them. and no
ticed that the water was full of jellyfishs
so sang out to them to look out for
them, because they sting sometimes.
Soon the men commenced to badger
one another about jumping, and finally
the cook went aloft and out on the
foreyard, and off he jumped, coming
down like o shot. We waited a second
or so, expecting to see him, but he
didn't appear, and we, becoming
alarmed, L went aloft so that l could
look down on the spot. About ten feet
under the surface l saw him kicking
and thrashing about as if he were drown
ing and entangled in something. sang
out to the second mate to lower away
the boat, and with long boat-hook he
soon hooked on to the man. The crew
dragged him up, and with him q jelly
fish that was twice as big as the
umbrellas we see on the stages here.
In the middle of the fish, tangled up In
a mass of streamers, was the man. We
had him out on short notice, you may
be sure, and he was a bad sight.
Everywhere the streamers had touched
HIM was red mark. He came to after
awhile, and said that the animal must
have been swimming along seven or
eight feet below the surface when he
struck it in jumping down. 1t meas
ured nearly nine feet across, and the
steamers must have been more than
200 feet long"
THAT reminds me of an experience
/ had when u youngster," the Captain
of a Spanish brig said, s'befcre l went
to sea. l was diver, not wreeker,
but a pearl diver, and hard business
il was. We worked of the Mexican
and Panama coasts, principally on the
Pacific side. Sometimes we worked
alone, but generally on shares, and
sometimes on regular pay. We went
to the grounds in small sailing vessels
then took to the small boats and cover
ed as much ground as possible. Each
man was provided with q baskets n
weight and knife. For sharks? Yes,
but it's poor defense, because it is al
most impossible to swing your arm
with any force under water. The hest
weapon is short spear. When you
reach the grounds you strip, catch your
feet in q big sinker, take the basket that
has rope for hosting, drop over, and
soon find yourself at the bottom. Then
your business is to knock as many oys-
ters OF as you can aud pile them into
basket before you lose your wind.
It's q terrible strain, but could stand
it in those days six minutes, and have
known men that could stay down ten;
but it's sure death in the long run. If
the ground is well stocked, you can
get twenty or more shells, but Tf s all
luck When the basket is full it is
hauled up, and after you come up for
your wind, down you go again, the
small cord for the purpose. 1t WAS on
one of these trips that 1 ran foul ef the
animal that gave me lasting fright.
You'll smile when say that it was only
"a starfsh, but that S all that it really was.
/ made my FIRST trip that day all right,
but on striking the bottom on the see
Ond trip saw big shadow over me
and something moved along like huge
bird. 1t was only devil fish, one of
the big sting rays that grow about
twenty feet wide in that country, but
Il gave me the shakes, nevertheless.
When wentdown for the third time the
water was nearly sixty feet deep over
a coral bottom. [ went down with a
rush, and landing on the edge of big
bunch of coral, swung off into a kind
oil basin. The basket went ahead of
me, and as l swung off to reach the
bottom, something seemed to spring
up all around me, and / was in the arms
OF some kind of n monster that coiled
! about me, waved its arms over my
head, and twisted about my body, arms
and legs. l tried to scream, forgetting
! that was in the water, and lost my
wind 1t was just as if . plant Had
! sprouted under me and thrown its
vines and tendrils about me. There
were thousands OF them, coiling and
wreathing, and ! thought had landed
in anest of sea snakes. l gave the
/ signal as soon as L could, and made q
! break upward, part of the creature
| clinging to me, while the rest, could
see was dropping to pieces. They
| hauled me into the boat when reach
/ ed the surface, and pulled the main
/ part OF the animal from me. 1t was
/ oval, about three feet across, and the
i've arms seemed to divide into thou
/ sands OF others. OF course there wasn't t
any real danger, but the fright it gave
me lasted for months. The starfish is