New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-11-28
AT THE WARD-ROOM TABLE.
STORIES. AND SONGS OF THE SEA.

a;t the shore spars until it gr0aned at ITS moor
in "a like human thing In pain. Witnout all was
night and darkness, but within all was warnieh
and light story and song. Ii was the aI'er oinno'
bour in the yard-room and tho gold lace on Inc
uniforms of the officers glittered in the ampiighI
THE PHANTOM FLEE
"Did you ever see phantom snip saio o"o
officer.
Frequently" replied the Captain of the Marines.
..I sailed crnise aboard the FLYING Dutchnan and
am ON intimate terms with all the phantom shippers
aAoat I have also seen the sea-serpent. lie mas
two eyes a green one on the starboard side ana a
red one on the port. That is to avoid COLLISION you
know"
" Joke all yOu want to-" replied Lieutenant.
have been frightened out of my wits more than
once by seeing what | thought for the moment
was phantom ship. Some of the merchant ves-
sells arc very careless about their lights and 1T IS
certainly startling in a dark night to see great
white pile of canvas suddenly loom up close
aboard and then disappear without sign or sound
All nsn who follow the sea more or less super
stitious: none more so than the fishermen OF the
Grand Banks who spend all their lives amid the
fogs and storms OF the North Atlantic.
lone superstition which is firmly believed along
the coast of the Maritime Provinces is that OF TIE
phantom fleet of ST. Mary's Bay, wild and rock
bound inlet the coast of Newfoundland. III
August 1862, a terrible storm swept over the New
foundland coast and tine h0meward-bound hshing
fleet 100 vessels in ALL put into st. Marys Bay Tor
shelter There every one of them went down, ana
now when the fog is thick AMI the storms are h1gh
over St. Mary's Bay the fishermen believe that
ghOsty fleet sails there-the phantoms OF the lost
vessels have seen fishermen ready to swear that
when seeking shelter in the bay they have seen
a. orth
sweep BY and have heard the shouts of men whose
bones for years have been the sport Of the Icy
waves that break on that storn-bound coast"
"Great Scott" SAID the dreamy Lieutenant
"such stories make me have cold shiyers down my
back and are not appropriate to this season OF tho
wear Bow bring me another cup OF coffee ana
have il hot-also a cigar There, L am
more cheerful no " and, to relieve the generai
gloom, will sing You that cheerful shanty which
Stevenson uses in his story OF Treasure lsiahd.
Fifteen the dead mans chest
Yo no ! aud bottlo OF rum
Drink and the devil had done for the resi-
Yo no! and bottle OF rum"
TWO PET PIGS
There was n general chorus of disap0roya' at
what one of the officers called such Jolly
ghostly" song and the dreamy Lieutenant rolapsed
into silence and gazed meditatively at the beams
above his head toward which the blue smoke from
his cigar was curling.
"Iet me tell YOU a simple story of the sea. which
shall not be ghostly, although it ends in
tragedy" SAID young officer who had dropped IN
on the mess from one of the other ships at the Yard
"This is about pet pig named Dennis, which we
had on the ship to which was recently attached
Dennis belonged to the steerage mess, but was so
intelioent and the sailors took such fancy 10 hlm
that the edible purposes for which he was originally
brought on board were given up ana ne was
presented to the men for pet Inc men ina1c nun
n suit of sailor clothes and lie used 10 come aIt 10
quarters every morning with them on. he never
wonId como aft unless he was in uniform. Every
Sunday he would sit on little Dench tnaJ inc
sailors made for hIm and smoke a pipe. Dennis
would hold the pipe, previously uSnt leu
by one of the men, in his NOUN uhul 'no
smoke ceased to rise from it, and then ne
would give a grunt, sisr!fylng that ne wan. .ha
il puffed up again; wish which one OF the
men always stood by to crafty we 1au ot 1n,
The Chinese steward was sent forward to kill the
largest one He saw Deunis roaming around. ana nc.
before his hand could be stayed he had cut MS
| throat There was almost mutlny among the
men, and they wanted to serve the Chinese ewaTd
| in the same wav that he had served Dennls we
| think of such thing. We offered them another
| pio as q pet but they said no; they wante'. Den-
| MIS- We bad Dennis roasted and ate him IN the
Storage, but believe no ono ever ato rosse pig
with less RELISH :. -, ocs,.. sos
pet pig we had on board sap was on Once ~ III
| pig nsed 70 come to quarters every morning. IKE
| Dennis Once the Captain, with an eye Tor decora-
| tive art. painted the hammock rails bright yell
low. and, there beng no quarter Sa''0ri in
| menseiv satisfied with the general Ell
feet When a''' the work was done. The
nnarters he had light yellow streak. pain ed along
either side of his body, and painted quarter GAL
lery on each of his headquarters. The Captain gave
| one look gave the order pipe down, ana aisap-
| peared III his cabin"
THE WAR JUNK TENNESSEE.
C,nversatiou now drifted TO the ships Of tho Navy
| and one said 81 wonder how long the Tennessee
will hold together 1t is not so very long ago that
she was flagship of the China Station and not con-
sdered a bad vessel. You remember that pigeon
English song which composed by Que OF her
crew. aud which Is now so well known IN 'he Navy
| Seated one day Ia the shop
| Come shors coma shore,
Heard big ship make guns pop, pop,
HI va for the Mccan ship.
Makee plenty money for me,
| Cofchee twenty dollar all Gay long
on tho war Junk Tennessee"
All the officers sang the chorus to this song
| which floating ont into the night might have been
| heard "on tho war Junk Tennessee hecself" fol-
| The old flagship was InoOred near by 10 al Omlnou,
| proximity to g. Rotten ROW."
A GALLANT RESCUE.
"What wild night" said one of tho
officers as the song ceased and the
noise of the wind sweeping by the old ship was
| heard. =" 1t REMINDS me Oh one Wnch WIS cIoSsihH
the North Atlantic the Alert. Late in the after
noon we sighted vessel showing signals of dis
| tress. We bore down on her, ana sue
nroved TO be n Norwegian bark, laden with
| lumber. waterogged and fast gong to pieces
II was blowing gale and tremendous
| sea was running The first boat we attempted T.
lower to 90 to the assistance of the people on tn
bark was stove. The second got off all right. On
had hard time in reaching the wreck. 1T Dr9nRh
hack ali except three of those on board the bark
II was bitterly cold and was growing dark III
wind and sea were increasing every minute In fury
The captaln called for volunteers to man another
boat TO bring off the three men left on the wreck
Immediately every man and officer rushed for tn
heats and the captain had to exert his authority Il
tbc utmost to keep them from lowering away. Then
he selected one Of the most experienced officers
and crew of the best and most stalwart sailors
and sent them Oft Before they reached tne wfe eel