The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-02-21
A TALE OF The CHESAPEAKE.
How Turnkey ESright Barely Saved His
Port Leg From the Jaws of Shark.

several men OF the night reserve were
seated near him talking about adven-
lures on tie water, when one of them
| struck into shark story. tom, as he
is called 10y all who know him, reused
up and listened to the recital of the tale
with much interest. At it's conclusion
he said:
when | was anchor-sweeping, boys,
had closer call from shark than that
fellow did whom Jack Humphrey has
just been talking about"
what is anchor sweeping, rom?'
"Ill spin You that shark story first
and tell you about anchor sweeping
afterwards
mo, lets have anchor sweeping first
aud bring the shark story in as an incl
MT
"Ali right here goes. Every winter
many vessels lose their anchors and
every spring and summer certain persons
go down the bay and sweep for them.
The business is more profitable where
sea going vessels find holding ground.
The sbole along The Chesapeake capes,
in the region Of tne horseshoe and other
posed places where vessels are often
compelled to ride at anchor during win
ter storms, can he protitably worked.
Frequently the sea is too heavy for YES
sells to stay there 1t is also too heavy
to get the anchors, and cables are slipped
by vessels which have to seek other
quarters or they are parted and the boats
driven ashore by the gale. There is
always d good crop OF anchors and chains
Oh the bottom aftera stormy winter, and
men make money by securing them.
The work is done in this way: Two pun
gies, each carrying a crew of four men,
work together. They start out the latter
Part of 4 pill or the list of May and work
for three or four months. In the for
ward hold of one of the pungies large
capstan is placed. The sweeping is dore
with two inch rope. The PUNCHES are
brought side by side together. The
long two inch rope is placed half-and
hal! on each pungy. They each hoist
sail and edge apart, one going little to
port and the other to starboard, paying
out the rope al. the time. When the
rope is run out its entire length the yes.
sells drop sail and drift with the tide or
wind The rope sinks, and, as the YES
sells drift, forms loop in the centre,
| which sc1apes alon. the bottom. When
it picks up something Eeavy on the bot
tom the vessels stop. The ends of the
rope are then quickly passed around the
headgcar of each vessel, run through
cleats aud made fast on sides opposite to
what they were at first. This has the
effect Of drawing the bows of both YES
| sells together. When the vessels meet
both ends Of the rope are run through a
chock on the bow of the one which has
| the capStan in her hold. The ends of
the rope are placed on the capstan and
wonnd mp. AS the rope is thus drawn
| in it is passed to the second vessel, which
falls astern as it is paid out to her from
| the capstan and thus assists in the work.
| When the first boat is brought directly
over the object caught by the loop on
| the bottom an iron messenger is put
around the lines, securely closed and
sent down by means of stout line. By
humping it against the object it can
easily be told if it be metal below. If it
| is an an .hor. then both lines are put
around the ind lass on the forward deck
and the men set to and heave away un.
| til tie anchor comes to the surface.
Sometimes an anchor may be so firmly
| Undecided that the bow Of the vessel has
to be hove down as Ear as possibly by the
aid Of the windlass and the anchor grad
ua!lg broken cut by the action of the
swell Of the sea. When the anchor is
brought up the foreballards of the second
vessel are hooked on to it and the prize
hoiStei into her hold.
q sent anchor sweeping in 1865. We
were out over three months and secured
A., 600 weight Of anchors and chains. l
got $2i1 for my share after paying the
mess bills. We got one anchor and
chain that weighed 5000 pounds. 1t
had the United States navy stamp upon
it. ! government vessel came alongside
us one day aud, without saying, by
your leave, gentlemen hoisted The prize
out of the hold and went off. We were
lying at Fortress Monroe at the time.
"One hot day we were becalmed off
the horseshoe. Three Of us went swim
ming in the bay. There was an awful
lot Of hungry sharks about that summer,
but we didn't think about them as we
swan away from the vessel several hun
dred yards. Presently some one yelled:
SHARKS. swim for your lives, men" l
looked around and there, sure enough,
was the fin of a man eater Swimming
along the top of the water. Jerusalem,
but didn't l swim. 1t was no time for
fancy strokes and l just dug at the water
with my hands and arms, scooping it up
ike a propeller and throwing myself
half out of the water as | plunged for
ward. But we couldn't begin to swim
with that shark. He was half a mile
away when we first saw him and one OF
our boats was coming toward us manned
by four men, who were rowing like
giants. But .he distance between us
and the shark disappeared with greater
rapidity than the space between our
selves and the boats. Well, we reached
the boat and were hauled in just as the
shark had turned on his back to make
a meal of my port leg. He didn't get
me, although felt the snap of his jaws
as he brought them together. He turned
over IN his disappointment, glared at us
half minute and then famed off to look
/ for his dinner in another quarter. Since
that experience l have not been fond OF
shan ks
The Handsomest Man in Washington.