The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-06-17
THE STORY OF A STRANGE PERIL.
p,ye see thnt tallish man wien the biz


In business first, and we've kept a-goin'
ever since, thick and thin. After the men
have had supper Iwant you to hear him
spin yarn about the time when we
wracked 1t together on Bonavista reef"
After the meal the ex-diver came aft and
proved to be q very jolly companion.
"There's only one thing" he said, "that
I've got agin Captain Sam. and that is he's
always 'tarnallg tryin' to get me tospin that
ERE shark story. I've told itdown East when
we're to home; I've spun 1t Off to every
man, woman and child in Boothbay: I've
told 1t in Bosting and on the line, and II
had all the wind Ike used a-spinnin' this
ERE identical yarn, I'd fill balloon the
size Of this schooner and float off,"
"Slack up trifle, you're leetle too taut,"
interrupted his friend the skipper, with
laugh. at hain't cost ye nothin' but
wind, and ye're famous all over the East
ern coast as the only man that ever got
freep
wall, don't know but you're right,
skipper" returned the hero, and reck-
on I'll have to keep on tellin' 1t till Pm
put overheard so here goes" And the
| veteran stOry-teller leaned back and drew
heavily on his pipe, until he seemed lost
| In the clouds OF smoke.
Ye never saw wrack, did YER asked
| the speaker. "Noi Wall. it's dismal
sight. She was a fine bark, but had been
hammered to pieces in goin' on the reef,
30 that some OF the plankin' had started
and taken shear right up at angles with
the hulls, and at first looked like masts.
| With such q lot Of standin' riggin' 1t was
| mighty hard pickin' yer way round, and
every time I'd take a step I'd git my head
almost yanked of by foulin' the tube.
survey OF the wrack. and found out how
the land lay, then went up. An hour later
! hsd the torts and machinery down with
me. The first thing to do was TO blow up
| q side Of the hull so as to git things out.
| This / did with q torpedo, and when
went back after the explosion there was
| the incest hole In her ye'd want to see. In
] went and hooked the tacklin' into twen-
ty bales Of cotton, reckon, before went
uRr,.rs WIN. or,v On. tron.,. ,hou, III.
| place, and that was the darkness She
laid on her side, Just so that AL the light
| got came In through the hole had made,
and II 1t hadn't been for that shouldn't
| have been able TO do anything, 1st alone
work. Ye see In q hull like That there's
always danger Of the load oonhn' down on
ye. Wall, ] was haulin' away, workin'
near the hole, when all at once was in
perfect darkness, Just as II the lamp had
| gone out Of all creation, and then Just as
| quick IL came again. Thought the schooner
had swung over at first, and paid no attent-
ionto 1t, but in minute more out wentithe
| light again then on it came, and that
comm and goin' went on for about ten
minutes, until finally made up my mind
to go and see what II was.
| al started for the openin', hut Just be-
fore got to 1t 1t became dark again, and
fancied saw dark shape like big fish
dart by then | thought 1t might be a
squall outside, and the low clouds that
they have there had been doin' business.
! crept through the hole. takin' care OF
| my pipes. and grabbed the rope left
hangin' there to pull me up on the hull,
when there came kind OF whirl or rush,
| Just as II O current OF water had been let
on me from somewhere. l turned half
around Just In time to gee big fish rlsin'
above me. IL was too late TO do any
| thing. I'd left my pick below, and before
! could move q step saw the dark form
rushin' at me. Twas In the most exposed
part of the wreck, not q thing TO do but
face the music, and as thought whatever
| II was, IL was goin' to strike me- turned
the best protected portion toward 1t, and
that OF course was my copper helmet.
There was kind Of rush; then In
stead Of blow felt a wrench that al
most twisted my head off. terrible
scratchin sound, and ] felt myself bein'
borne off bodily by the head. The thought
| that was bein' eaten alive by some hor-
rible monster came over me, and with q
| force that found out afterward must
have been superhuman, as 1t nearly
| jerked the watchman overheard, gave
the signal on the line"
Here the speaker stopped In his nara
| tive and said "Now reckon Capt. Sam
had better go on. He kin tell ye the rest
better than kim"
"Wall, reckon / kim" answered that
individual, "considerin' what fix ye
were In. The first warnln' we had that
anythin' was wrong" he continued, "was
seem Tom Ramsey, who was settin' on
camp-stool smoKin' and holdin' the line,
go arsprawlin over the deck and nigh on
to overboard., Up he got, swearin' that
Jed was drunk or crazy down at the bot
tom for yankin' 30 on the line, but we
knew somethin' was up, 80 we clapped on
| to the line, and ye'd a-thought there was u
| sperm whale ON TO the other end. IL was
| Just as II Jed didn't want TO come up, and
was a-jerkin' and haulin' TO stay where he
was. Then there came steady strain like,
but we stuck 10 II, and in about three min
utes had him In sight, when one OF the men
yelled, "A sharks got him = and ran for
the harpoon. The rest OF US gave way
hard ON the rope, and In minute the
cook, him that yelled, got back with the
iron, and right before us Jed appeared on
the surface with shark about eighteen
foot long The cook let fly the harpoon,
the water few, the men yelled, and we
jerked Jed fairly out OF the water; and
Just as we gave the last lift-he was
comm up feet iirst-I see his head was
jammed In the sharks mouth. The crit
ter dropped him as soon as It was
struck with the iron, and Jed fell on the
deck like lead. tell ye we want long In
gittin' that armor off. l didn't wait TO
unscrew It, but knocked In one side-light
with a marline spike, and 80 gave him q
little air."
al was pretty near gone" put in the
hero OF the tale, land IT, as Capt Sam
says. The shark-for that's what Il was
q regular man-eater, when put my head
down took me for crab, / reckon, or some
such critter, and took my helmet In its
mouth and started off with me. OF course
my body swung Off as soon as lost my
feet, and my neck got bent on the edge OF
the helmet but managed 10 give the sig
nal They managed TO haul me TO the
top with the crltter and all, and. as Capt
Sam says, he didn't leave 90 until he felt
the cooks iron. came 10 In few min
utcs and helped bauiin the critter. and II
we didn't keelhaul him now It's caution
I've got his jaw home now. IL fits over
my head ~ neat az you please, aud every
time | look ut II / kin feel that curious