Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-21
YARNS ABOUT SHARKS.
An Old sailor Believes that Many
of them are UntrustyWOr

Al n OlQ SahlOr nehIeVes tnht A0u
of them are UntrustwOrthy.
The old sailor, sitting on the string
piece at the end of the South street pier,
looked reflectively at the water and took
a fresh chew of tobacco when young
man remarked that most wonderful
stories were told about the capacity of a
shark NAV.
save" he said, "I've hearn mates O.
mine tell things about sharks as no one
what had never been to sea wouldn't be.
lieve."
ssI was reading about Captain Cook $
first voyage, the other day, and the book
said shark swallowed the deep sea lead
when they were sounding off the coast of
South America. They hauled the shark
clear above water before he dropped off, "
said the young man.
.sTrue for H." the old sailor remarked.
"a messmate O. mine when l was cap
tain of the foretop in the Macedonian,
which she was q man-o'-war, and we
hadn't much to do but to spin twisters,
he tells me that when he was in the
bark Sary MCPHERSON from Boston to
Palermo with Goldfish and corn, they got
becalmed off the Western Island and
didn't do nothin' but drift for a week.
60 bein'. the sharks got thick thereabout,
the word was passed forward to rig a
hook. which they did, runnin' the fall OF
the line through a snatch-blOck which
they lashed to the mizzen topmast back
stay, They baited the hook, first with
nork. and then with beef, but the sharks
lust rolled themselves agin it and
winked their eyes KNOWN like, as if
i. they'd say what dye take us for! That
efiled nv mate, as he was sayin' to me,
and he picked up a chunk of hollystone
what had busted off where the mate had
shied it at Dago in the mornin' watch,
and he hove it at big one as was foolin'
around the hook. The rock skittered
twice on the wave, bein' flat like, and
the shark, bein' took unawares, grabbed
for it just de- it skipped along, and they
hauled him in and saved the rock"
"Oh," said tbs young man, "I've
read of sharks swallowing bigger things
than that. Why, l don't just remem
ber the circumstances, but man.o' wal
cruising off the coast of Africa, during
the slavery days, lost the surgeon over
board one night; leastways he disap
peared. Next day the sailors caught a
big shark and cut him open. What dc
YOU suppose they found? A silvel
snuffbox, pair Of low shoes and {
toothbrush, all belonging to the surgeon
So. of course, it was plain that the
shark had swallowed him whole and di
eested him and his clothes, too, excep
the shoes"
"Youre sure bout the shoes?" asked
the sailor.
"Quite SO. The book was quite cleal
about it,
II reckon the shark must contract
ed the dyspepsia gettin' away with tn
clothes, else he'd made nothin' of thu
low-auartered shoes and pair 0
sea boots thrown in for dessert"
"You must have helped to catch
GOOD many sharks yourself, when sailinl
about the world?"
III reckon has, some.
"Bic ones, too, and with things i
their stomachs?"
zone Of 'em was nigh on to forty fee
long,"
it,"
.sYou see was in the brig Maria
bound to New Orleans for cotton on Fa
river account. There were nine abl
saamen on board and three boys, whic
was tidy crew for craft OF that rit
reckon we was about thirty,fve mile
off Cape Carnyveral when II happened
The doctor was scrapin' Of some sal