, 1885-11-22
THE SAILORS YARN.


~ '@f RSAHAN ~ 49,
command a ship. do your" said an intelli
gentlooking seaman to a boarding house
runner the other day as the pair stood on
an East river pier waiting for an incom
ing ship to be locked. Il do. ~ said the
runner Then you are out Of your
reckoning. " continued the seaman; "for
have known a man to command a ship
and make good runs in her. and yet he
didn't know any more about navigation
than you do. - The runner and several
others who stood near and who had heard
the seaman's peculiar statement asked
him TO tell TO tell them about the strange
captain who knew nothing about naviga
tion. This request seemed to strike the
seaman as quite reasonable and he at
once proceeded to spin his yarn
About twenty years ago, y he began.
~when was first made an able seaman.
/ shipped here on u full rugged clipper
bound for Callao, Teru The captain
was as fine a looking skipper as ever |
saw. lie was tall and stout built. with a
heavy beard. which he took a good deal
OF pains with They called him Capt
Phillips. Though he was mighty fine
looking and talked as if he knew every.
thing. when you look at him close to for
q minute somehow he didn't look a smart
man. The first time | went to the wheel
he was on deck. and | watched him a deal
AAAA 4 ~ ~ 1hAlIAoar auL Tx
more | looked at him the more | made
up my mind that with all his talking
ways and looks he wasn't what l called a
smart man. One queer thing about
Capt Phillips was that he kept a
servant That's something very strange
for the captain of an American ship to
do. But they said that the captnin
was born in England, aud he talked a lit
tie as If he was. But that servant of his
tuau a .naa.r 1AAhsaA HnA nh. ..II.1
him Stotty. That fellow was awkward.
His legs and arms seemed twisted. Moth
ing fitted him, and he had red hair. and
his ugly face was all covered with dig
freckles. But somehow about the eyes
he looked smart.
Every now and then while / was at the
wheel the captain and Scotty would be on
deck. and when | heard them talk |
couldn't help think that Scotty was much
the smarter OF the two. although the skip
per was a man past 40. while Scotty was
little more han half that. Scotty never
had anything to do with the men. He
lived in the cabin and was almost always
with the captain. Although they called
him a servant | never saw him do any
work. Sometimes he would come on
deck and give the mate in charge of the
deck some message from the captain
about changing the course or going
about. or something else about navi-
eating the ship. At times in heavy
weather or when the captain was putting
the ship about he would walk up and
down leaning oil Scotty's shoulder.
Scotty would look out kind of queerly
from under his eyebrows while he walked
alongside the captain, and he always
seemed TO be muttering something. All
this seemed kind of strange TO me. Once
in a while the captain would be the worse
for liquor. He never came on deck much
then, but when he wanted the course Of
the ship changed or anything like that
done. he would send up word to the mate
in charge of the deck by Scotty.
@One night when we were getting
down near Cape Horn our watch had
from 8 to IL o'clock on deck. | was
standing near the pumps and the mate
told me TO 20 aft and coil up some ropes
that the other watch had left down. l
went aft. grumbling, Of course. and be
gan coiling the ropes | noticed a lighted
window. and getting down to i'll was
curious when | was young, you see-I
could look into the captains cabin. On
the lounge lay Capt. Phillips who looked
as If he'd been drinking too much.
hut my eyes stuck out when | saw
Scotty. That young fellow sat at a table
with a chart before him. He had a pair
OF compasses out and was making out his
course on the chart He jumped up and
took a look at the weather glass and then
he started toward the after companion
way. | jumped up and went to coiling
the ropes again. 1 heard Scotty come ON
on deck. says he 10 the man at the
wheel; The captain says change the
course a point TO the west Tho mate
came aft then. and Scotty told him about
changing the course and then said: The
captain says when you change the watches
tell your men TO be ready for a cali, for
the glass is going down and we're likely
TO have a heavy breeze before morning
! finished coiiing up the ropes and went
forward. Thinks |: This ship is navi-
gated by Scotty, and the captain. with all
hin airs, isn't any more n navigator than
i am He may be captain, but he's no
more than a speaking trumpet for Scotty
80 far as handling the ship goes.
AT II o'clock my watch turned in. but
somehow | couldn't sleep. kept thinking
about Scotty. | saw how he had all along
given his own orders about handling the
ship. while he seemed to be only giving
messages from the captain. When the
captain had come on deck and given any
orders | felt sure that Scotty had told him
what to say before he left the cabin And
when he had given orders with Scotty by
him Scotty had always muttcrcd. and
what had he muttered but the very orders
saw Yvbapt a frand ,ho oan,oin 90 WIN,
thongbt !, ali over Ipt ,rhat nn7,Io d'u me
mos, Voc ,Sbv didn',S co,tv s,r;te ont gor
himso,f a,d Il oantain ,s,aad ~ ~
innd;na 20 he sorrdnt and io,1;no -
phniips nse him ,ha, Wv IT, Ms
some mvstory about /, To- aas Mn
hni 7 ooridn@', cnoss whs, !, onnTI
oniv snsnoot 5bot In soma
~ - ""J,
hold on Scatiy Whiles lac 4,
NV hnnL thinL}no .bant an m r.
came on ia hIoyy and ali L.ade ysoro
when he told tho mate that be wero liL,iy