Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-11-04

From THE v. Y. Sss.1


FRoM TIE n. Y. Saa:l
Back of the wholesale fish market in
oohth street float great many fish cars
DIG crates, tile upper surfaces of which
are hush with the water. beyond ana
among tie crates are trim little fishing
sniacRs- Outside the snacks, close
against the long piers, are big vessels
"i'n DoWsprits high In air over the
sinhcks and the cars and an animated
lot OF boys diving from the crates.
There II space enough there for the bows
to dive. swim. and splash to their hearts,
content. Seventy boys were in the wa
ter one afternoon last weak, all at once,
IN entire nudity, and wild hilarity.
The spaces between the wagons on the
northern pier were 6lled with spectators.
Among them was grim, old sailor man,
who epsd the boys with manifest dis
favor, and growied sorething about
wharf rats"
Can you swim?" q reporter asked.
"A little," he replied grufiiy.
Then you must understand how the
boys enjoy it." He OILY grunted.
And In addition to the pleasure of it,
think of how useful the knowledge of
swimming may be some day to them.
Some Of them may grow up to be sailor
men,"
Swimming amt no good to sailor
man. he retorted in q tone of con-
tempt, mot three sailor men out of ten
knows how to swim. A sailor man wants
to be able to catch hold of a ropes end
with his eyelids If need be for to stay
aboard of his vessel. His business amt
in the water. And If he gets overheard
in the middle of the broad Atlantic,
what good is his swimmin' agoin' to do
him? He might Just as we'll 90 down at
once and be done with it."
"But if he could keep himself up
while he might be saved"
"Well, they'd most likely chuck him
something to float, if it was any use."
Capt. Charles Hutchinson of the ship
G. II. Marshall, late from Liverpool,
said: 81 hardly think the old sailors es-
innate of the proportion of men Of his
calling who cannot swim is quite cor
rect. But / am convinced that more
than half of them cannot. Often they
will pretend to be able to swim, when in
reality they cannot, not at least to
amount to anything. have lost good
many men at sea, and never saw but one
saved yet by his swimming in rough
weather. 1t was in '59 or 60. l was
bound out eastward in the Isaac Webb.
The wind backed around contrary, the
sea was heavy, we were under low can
vas, and the ship was plunging a good
deal. The mate sent a man out on the
bowsprit end to secure the tack flashing
of the foretopmast staysail, and while he
was there the ship made plunge, and
the man was washed overheard. We
could not get life bouy to him, but he
was a Kanaka, and he knew how to
swim, as all those Kanakas do, like fish.
| rounded the ship to, lowered boat.
and picked him up. He had been half
hour in the water before he was les0ued,
but brought him into the cabin, gave
him drink, and got him warm. and In
three hours he was as we'll as II nothing
of the sort had ever happened. That
was the only case remember now where
l was enabled to save the life of man
have saved him if he had not known
how to swim.
Coming back from California two or
three voyages ago l had singular ex-
perience. l had aboard darky from
some of those. Pacific isles that had
shipped in San Francisco. He had a
big straw hat and coming up through
the tropics one day, Just as he was near
me, he lost it overheard. said to him
jokingly, II wouldn't lose a good hat
like that. Why don't you jump after
it?" I hadn't the faintest idea of
meaning such thing; but no sooner
said than done; overheard the darby
went like a flash. He caught his hat,
we hove to, threw him bowline and
hoisted him aboard grinning. But the
sea was very calm, and We were hardly
moving. 1t was nothing like the other
case spoke of. Eight or nine years
ago, on one voyage, l lost three men
overheard in one gale of wind, and in
the old times, when We used to carry the
single topsails, we lost man on nearly
every voyage. Those sails were 50 very
heavy and big that they were hard to
handle, particularly when the wind bal
looned them up. If man got up on
the yard to reef and the sail hit him a
slap, overheard he would 90, stunned
and helpless. 1t doesn't make any odds
how good swimmer a man is if he goes
into the water stunned in gale of
wind. He is pretty certain to be
drowned. Since the double topsail
yards were substituted for that old rig
l have lost no more men in that way,
and, in fact, have not lost man for
several years until about a year ago,
when had the misfortune to lose my
mate. The jib sheet knocked him over
board, and probably stunned him. We
rounded to and lowered boat as quick
as possible. We could see his SOU wester
in the water and supposed his head was
under it, but it wasn't when the boat
got there, and, though We saved the
SOU wester, We meyer saw the man
again.
''Sailors never seem to think of the
fact that they cannot swim when Or
dered on the most dangerous duty.
They never object to going aloft when
they can get there. Sometimes they
cannot go. On my last voyage from
New York to Liverpool, of the Banks,
We were caught in such a gale that the
men were 1attened out like spread
eagles on the rigging. land literally could
not climb aloft. Swimming would not
have been much use to a man overheard
in that sea. Still, believe that not
only every sailor, but every man sh Ould
enable him to save his life when other
wise it would inevitably be lost"
Capt. J. C. Morrison of s2 South
street. ships annually Rre8s many men
for the most hazardous Of sea service on
board whaling vessels and for exploring
expeditions. It was he WHO furnished
the picked crews for the Jeanette and
for the Schwatka expedition, and he
was for q number Of years a whaler.
Yet he said: 81 can't swim, never
could, and don't sec that il II Of any
particular use to q sailor to know how
to swim. have been overheard in the
ocean q hundred times ] suppose, doz-
ems of times any way, and never found
myself in any danger Of drowning yet
through lack Of knowing how to swim.
Only q small minority Of whalemen
know how to swim, and ] don't see way
they should. Il is true that in pursuit
of q whale their boat may be crunched
up by sperm or mashed by the ripper
Of right whale, or upset; but even then