The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-04-17
ROUTED BY A TIGER.
A sCHOONER'S CREW TERRIFIED AND
THE VESSEL DRIFTING.
a Tug Captain story OF the Beasts Re-
capture-Four EevoIvers and a shot
Gun Brought into Action
Hot Water Cure.
LPh1IadaInhia Tnn..

philadelphia Times
L think it must have been about half
past 3 o'clock. said Capt Healey, Of the
| tug-boat Hercules, when the man on
watch ran down TO my bunk and shook
me up with the startling news that there
was a schooner drifting down upon US
bToadside to. | slipped a pea jacket on
and ran on deck and sure enough there
was a 500-tOn schooner bearing down
upon US with all her sails set She had
her side lights up, but there was nobody
at the wheel What surprised me
was that she should drift almost broad
side to the wind with her canvas on. The
only way | could account for it was that
her anchor was down and dragging the
bottom. She fortunately did not collide
with the tugbOat, and as she drifted past
/ shouted in hopes of waking up the peo+
pie on board, for, to tell the truth,
thought they had all turned n without
setting any anchor watch ana that the
schooner had simply drifted from her
moorings. You can imagine my surprise
when at least half dozen voices answered
my shout. AS the schooner doomed up
through the morning mist made out the
situation of the men.
There was one man standing on the
fOretopmast Crosstrees, with a red hand
kerchief tied in the rigging above his
head; another stood up in the maintop,
shouting, and in the yawl-bOat astern
where three men, one of whom stood up
in the bows of the boat with an oar in his
hand, as if he were waiting for somebody
or something to show over the ships taft
rail As they drifted past one of the men
in the yawl got up and shouted:
Come aboard of US, for Gods sake
We are helplessp
CAT first l could not imagine what was
the matter, except that the vessel was in
the hands of mutineers This l thought
probable as there were only five men to
be seen. There were still two or three
men to be accounted for Judging from the
the schoOner's size The men in the boat
still kept shouting and waving at US, so
l called the tugs crew, got our anchor up
and started in chase of the drifting
by the time we got within a cables length
of her she grounded By that time l made
preparo tions to board the vessel and cap
ture the mutineers who l supposed had
possession of her. l shouted to the men in
the yawl to cut adrift and come on board.
of US, but they had only one oar in the
boat AS we got near the schooner l mus
tered the five men on board the Hercules
and counted our weapons. We had three
revolvers and shotgun. :
q Now let her go for the schooner I
yelled to the pilot as l reached up for the
signal rope and blew three shrill whistles.
The last shrek had hardly died away when
a terrific, blood curdling roar that almost
took US off our feet came from the
schooner's deck. We were almost along
side and had barely time to pull two
bells to back her when the vessels touched.
There was Jar, the schooner trembled,
and as the tug drew slowly off, another
terrific roar drowned the noise Of escaping
steam. A great monster of a tiger sprang
from behind the galley house Three
revolvers and a shotgun were pointed at
the brute. Hold on, boys [ said, let us
make up our minds what is best.
"The schooners crew, who were perched
in the rigging, yelled for us to shoot low
and kill the beast. l pulled one bell and
stopped the tug. By this time the men in
the yawl boat had cut adrift and they
clambered over the side of the
tug They were Captain Petit and the
mate and cook of the schooner. There
was no time for explanations. Captain
Petit had heavy navy revolver with him
and we now slowly steamed around the
stern of the schooner and crept up along.
side as close as we could with safety.
"His majesty, the royal Bengal tiger lay
doing on the starboard side of the gal
ley house AS pulled the gong to stop
the tug he raised his head and l gave the
word 'aimp He looked at us for a
moment, and, as he opened his mouth to
roar, | shouted 'frep The contents of
four revolvers and shotgun wei poured
at the tiger, and with a roar of rage and
pain that you could have heard a mile
off, the animal rose on his launches One
of his forepaws hung limp The beast
tried to gather himself up for spring but
he couldn't manage it; he had been pep
pered in the legs.
L don't want to kill the tiger said
Capt Petit, if we can get him to go
back between decks. where his cage is
l am afraid the consignees won't pay
freight on him if l make away with him.
After that we threw chunks of coal,
clubs. boards anything we could get hold
of at the tiger, but he only got wilder and
roared louder An idea struck me.
'Unreel the hose l yelled.
I'm jiffy we had length of fire hose
attached.
Now, pump hot water from the boil
ers.
THE boiling water fairly Missed as it
shot out of the muZZle of the hose, but
the sight of the show was when it struck
the tiger He jumped ten feet into the
air and let out a roar that fairly shook the
vessel. Again the water struck him and
he Jumped and roared. We followed him
all over the deck, giving him the benefit
of the hot stream at every pause. he
climbed half way up in the fOret0p-rig
ging and nearly put the man up in the fore
top into fit. But lie dropped back on
deck and as a fresh squirt of steam struck
square in the face he turned tail ana
jumped down the main hatch, where
his broken cage lay. In two seconds we
were on board the schooner, the matches
were on and the tiger was secured. For
an hour after Capt Petit sat in my cabin
and told me and my crew how he man.
aged to get into such a fix. He had taken
the tiger on board at Richmond. He had
been sold by Adam Forepaugh to the
trustees of Roger Williams Park in Prov
idence, r. l., to be placed in the manage
erie there. In a windstorm at night,
coming down the river, the cage broke
adrift from its fastenings and was so dam
aged that the beast managed to crawl out
The hatchway over his cage had been left
open for air and the tiger took possession
of the schooner's deck. They had been
drifting for nearly three hours when we
sighted them.
A SOciable Man.
burlington Free Press.
"A sociable man is one who, when he /
has ten minutes to spare, goes and bothers /