McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-02-19
SAILORS, STRANGE COSTUMES.
Queer Outfits Fashionable In. Neptume's Court
Forecast Yarns

-rOrec&St'S Yarns.
Talk about strange costumes, said
the mate OF steamship to Tribune
reporter recently; :.'the way some of
the crew of deep-watcr vessel will
get themselves up occasionally is q
caution. l remember once in my
younger days, when / was before the
mast on the ship Colby, bound round
the Horn, that there was an old salt
named Bill Rice, who considered
himself what would be called nauti-
cal duck in these days. He had been
on the ship running from Liverpool
out to the African coast before joining
the Colby, and an Eng lishman who had
gone out as a passenger in her had
given him on leaving the ship an old
dress-coat, a striped waist coat, a
stovepipe hat, and pair of loud
checked trousers. sBill' considered
this outfit the acme of fashionable at
tire, and every Sunday when he took
his trick at the wheel he would rig
himself out in the 'duds', stovepipe
hat included, and as solemn as an owl.
1t was the most comical sight l ever
saw. tho effect being heightened by
the fact that the clothes did not fit and
the hat was size too large.
'.Once when was on Rio steamer
e shipped man whose entire outfit
onsisted of pair of rubber boots and
pair Of dilapidated trousers, a bright
red flannel shirt, and white helmet
hat. He looked like a disconnected
rainbow as he moved about the decks,
and the passengers were never tired
watching the white helmet and the red
shirt. You have, of course, heard the
story of the landsman who shipped be-
fore the mast, and, fearing rain, took
an umbrella with him? Never heard it?
Well, l don't vouch for its accuracy,
but the story goes that when the mate.
called all hands to shorten sail one
rainy day. the landsman turned out
wearing a rubber coat and carrying
his umbrella. The captain saw it
from the quarterback, and, running
forward with a howl of rage, came
down with his whole weight on the
umbrella, crushing it into shapeless
mass, and threw it overheard, after
which he chased the terrified lands
man up the rigging with a Delaying
pin.
..At another time when l was on
Rio steamer there was quartermaster
who used to put on white shirt and a
4stand-up' collar every time he took his
trick at the wheel. That man was al
ways making mistakes of some kind,
and used to annoy the old man, as the
sailors call the captain, frightfully.
The old man was pretty patient, but
La mi ha 10
hum. This was the quartermaster'
first trip down the Brazilian coast, and
he had heard some one say that be-
tween Bahai and Rio the Flyaway
light would be sighted. We left Ba-
hal at nightfall, and in an hour he be-
gan to sight that.lig The old man
had lit his pipe and tipped himself
back in his chair for smoke when
tho quartermaster sang out: Light
ho!' The captain dropped his pipe
and went into the pilot-house like a
shot.
".Where away?' said he.
"'Three points on the starboard
bow replied the quartermaster,
".l don't see any light, said the old
man, peering through the night
glasses.
II don't now, but 1 did, replied
the Quartermaster.
.'All his watch the quartermaster
kept sighting that light at intervals.
The old man would no sooner get
comfortably settled down for smoke
than he would be startled by cry of
Light no . He was startled, you see,
because he knew each time that if the
ship was on her course it was not time
to sight any light. Finally the captain
turned in, but the relentless quarter
master kept bringing him out of his
bunk by sighting Flyaway light.
Finally the old man could stand it no
longer, and, rushing into the pilot
house, he seized the quartermaster by
the throat, and shaking him until his
teeth ratified, he shouted: If you
sight Flyaway light many more times
tonight, I'll makeyou food for fishes =
L believe he'd have done il. too, for
the old man was riled. "-Neao York
T'7-ibN1lo