The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02
UNDER FALSE COLORs.
A SAILORS QUEER YARN.

"You say that man has got to nave
a knowledge of navigation before he can
command ship, do you?" said an in
telligent looking seaman TO a boarding
house runner the other day as the pair
stood on an East River pier waiting for
al incoming ship to be docked. 81
do" said the runner. ''Then you are
out of your reckoning" continued the
seaman: "Ior I have known man to
command 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 had heard the scaman's peculiar
statement asked him to tell them about
the strange captain who knew nothing
about navigation. This request seemed
to strike the seaman as quite reasonable
and he at once proceeded to spin his
yarn.
'tAbout twenty years ago." he began,
"when / was first made an able seaman, l
shipped here on full-rigged clipper
bound for Callao, Peru. The captain
was as fine looking skipper as l ever
saw. He was tall and stout built, with
a heavy beard which he took good deal
of pains with. They called him Captain
Phillips. Though he was mighty fine
looking and talked as if he knew every
thing, when you looked at him close to for
q minute somehow be didn't look smart
man. The first time I went to the wheel
he was on deck, and I watched him q
good deal more than l did the compass,
and the more l looked at him the more
I made up my mind that with all his
taking ways and looks he wasn't
what I called smart man. One
queer thing about Captain Phil
lips 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 captain was born in
England, and he talked a little as if he
was. But that servant of his was q
queer looking fish. They called him
Scotty. That fellow was awkward. His
legs and arms seemed twisted. Nothing
fitted him, and he had red hair, and his
ugly face was all covered with big
freckles. But somehow about the eyes
he looked smart. Every now and then
while I was at the wheel the captain and
Scotty would be on deck, and when I
heard them talk I couldn't help think TINT
Scotty was much the smarter of the two,
although the skipper was man past
forty, while Scotty was little more than
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
servant I never saw him do any work.
Sometimes he would come on deck and
give the male in charge of the deck
some message from the captain about
changing the course or going about, or
something else about navigating the ship.
At times in heavy weather or when the
captain was putting the ship about he
would walk up and down leaning on
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 some
thing. All this seemed kind of strange
to me. Once in while the captain
would be the worse for liquor. Hc 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 12 o'clock on deck. 1 was
standing near the pumps, and the mate
told me to 60 aft and coil up some ropes
that the other watch had left down.
went aft, grumbling, of course, and
began coiling the ropes. I noticed
lighted window, and getting down to it
II was curious when was young, you
see-I could look into the captains cabin.
On the lounge lay Captain Phillips, who
looked as If he'd been drinking too
much, but my eyes stuck out when Isaw
Scotty. That young fellow sat at table
with chart before him. He had pair
of compasses out and was making out
his course on the chart. He jumped up
and took 4 look at the weather glass, and
then he started toward tho after COM
panionway. jumped up and went to
coiling the ropes again. heard Scotty
come on deck. Says he to the man at
the wheel: The captain says change the
course point to the west The mate
came aft then, and Scotty tod him
about changing the course and then said: !:
THE captain says when you change
the watches tell your men to be
ready for call, for the glass
is going down, and we're likely
to have heavy breeze before morning.'
I finished coiling up the ropes and went
forward. Thinks I: This ship is navi-
gated by Scotty, and the captain, with
all his airs, amt any more of a naviga-
tor than am. He may be captain, but
he's no more than a speaking trumpet
for scotty so far as handling this ship
goes
"At 10 o'clock my watch turned in,
but somehow I couldn't sleep, / kept
thinking about Scotty. saw he had all
along given his own orders about hand
ling 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
muttered. and what had he muttered but
the very orders that Captain Phillips re-
peated after him. I saw what a fraud
the captain was when I thought it all
over, but what puzzled me most was
why didn't Scotty strike out for himself
and be captain, instead of pretending
to be servant ano letting Captain Phil
lips use him that way. There was some
mystery about it, that was plain, but
couldn't guess what it was; 1 could only
suspect that in some way or other the