Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-04-07

1850
An old sailor, whose appearance indi-
Gated that he had been much buffeted b.
wind and wave, stood resting bis back
against mooring near q bulkhead
III South street, and meditativeIy smok
ing The glowing bowl Of his pipe rested
on the top Of barrel some distance
away, and the stem was fully four feet
long. It was very thin, and seemed to
be bone. It's hue was . bright. glossy
black, though what its original color had
beep the sailor had to saw. II curved
with long, graceful, uniform sweep
from the mariners lips TO the bowl.
Its the wing bone Of man-o'-war
bird, said the owner, when asked about
1t. Land folks, / believe. call them
albatrosses; we sailors like the old name
OF man-o'-war bird better. / caught the
one that | got this Stem from about 500
miles south Of the Cape of Good Hope. I
hooked him with piece Of raw fat pork
tied to the end Of a rope lanyard. 1t was
blowing half a gale of wind. and the
man-o'-war birds were out enjoying it as
usual
They just touch the top Of wave
with their feet, and then give sharp,
quick CRY, and 20 driving on q hundred
yards or 80 before they take another
plunge. ! got big lump Of fat pork 1t
the galley, and let il tow overheard with
the lanyard about fifty yards astern of
the ship. One Of the birds soon saw It,
and had swallowed it in minute, and
we began to haul him in. NY stars but
he gave US job. It took five Of rs to
get him on deck, and then Of all the un-
wieldy birds you ever saw he was the
worst. A goose would have been grace
full to him, and he did not seem q bit
like the beautiful white birds Of his kind
that were sweeping about the ship, now
ahead and now astern, sailing against
the wind or with it at just about the
same rate Of speed, and seeming to DO
part of the gale
''My prisoner squatted down on the
floor and began to cry. There was no
doubt about it. He sobbed and whim-
pered like hurt child, and the tears
ran down his long. hooked beak, and
dropped off the knob at the end. After
a time he became seasick But his ILL
ness did not cease there. He got more
and more sick every minute as the vessel
rolled and pitched in the heavy sea that
was running. It was geuine seasickness.
This seems curious with bird that lives
altogether on the water, but man-o'-war
bird always gets seasick when taken on
the deck of rolling ship. would have
saved him if could, but If L had thrown
him overheard he would have been
swamped by the big seas before he could
have used his long wings. Neither could
he rise fronl the deck, and in about two
hours he laid his head down on the
planks and died.
~ divided the long wing bones among
the crew, and they all made pipe stems
of them. They are hollow, fesh-colored,
and very light, and that is the reason the
man o'-war bird can fly so long. It Is
forever on the wing, and only goes
ashore on some uninhabited island at
breeding time. Sailors think they sleep
flying, that is, some of them think so,
when it Is calm enough-which is not
often about the Cape of Good Hope-or
else never s.eep at all. They are the
biggest birds that live anywhere. The
one caught weighed about twenty mine
pounds, and measured seventeen feet
from wing tip to wing tip, and he was
not at all large one. No, we had no
ill-luck after the birds death. IF you
shoot one and kill him you may look
out for squalls, but to catch him with q
bit Of fat pork and him die on deck Is
different thing altogether, you know.
NesO Fork Sun.