The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-08-25
THE STORY or THE SEA.
The Captain of u Steamer Relates An Ex-
pericnca that Rivals Fiction.

pericnca that Rivals Fiction.
A strange story told by Captain
Putt of the British steamer Talisman,
which came around Cape Horn from
Liverpool, makes it appear possible
that the stories of the sailors may not
be all exaggerations or inventions,
says the San Francisco Erdmtner.
"The ship, ,"said Captain Putt. chad
hard time from the start. We had
to do n lot of repairing at the Falkland
Islands after going through gale that
almost sent her 10 the bottom.
From the Horn up to the Chilian
coast we floundcred in q changing gale
for two weeks. One day the mates
son, lad of about fifteen, was thrown
by lunge of the ship from his seat on
| crosstree into the water
.'Thc boy was wrapped in big SOU
wcster and i'm consequence could not
| swim.
"A sailor named Banning saw that
the boy could not swim wrapped up as
he was, and lcaped into the water after
him.
"The sea water in this neighborhood
is so cold that man cannot live much
longer than twenty-five or thirty min
utes in it.
The attention of every man on board
was given to the two men In the water.
but when one sailor raised his eyes and
saw an enormous bird make direct for
the boy he emitted cry of terror,
which was joined in by every one as
soon as they saw it,
at did not resemble a cloud nor did
| it carry rock in it's talons, but it was
an enormous creature that no two men
would care to battle with under any
circumstances.
when Banning raised his eyes and
saw the bird his first thought was to
turn around and make for the ship.
Fear took possession of him, and his
strokes grew less powerful.
Seeing Banning's danger James
Gray jumped in after him.
Just as he reached the water the
great creature reached the boy, who
was growing very faint.
.'At first the bird seemed undeter-
mined what to do. 1t pecked Mt the boy
about the body, needing not the shouts
of the sailors. who sought to frighten
it away.
at was some time before the boat
could be lowered. and by the time it
was let down into the water and manned
the boy had gone down once.
His sudden disappearance sur
prised the bird, which was about to
turn its attention to Banning when the
boy came to the surface again. | ran
to my cabin and returned with n rifle
to shoot the bird should it grow ugly.
when / got on deck the first thing
saw was the strange creature rising in
to the air with the boy, and its mate,
which suddenly appeared, almost as
large, was attacking Banning.
He was on his back, lodging the
beak of his adversary and swimming
toward the vessel with all his might. l
never was more excited in my life. L
hardly knew what to do. The boy was
being carried away and was up thirty
or forty feet in the air.
"Shoot the bird.n yelled the mate,
running about the deck like crazy
} man and shouting ut the top of his
voice orders that were not obeyed.
I'm shooting /, of course, ran the
| risk of killing the boy instead of the
big bird, If, indeed, he was not killed
by the fall; but there was not much
l time to think of this; the bird was
r still rising and, after q hasty aim fired.
at was an excellent shot.
"A wing fell helpless, rs If | had
= broken it, and the bird tumbled down
= into the water. The second bird when
y it saw the boat approach, left Banning
and made a fierce attack on one of the
4 boatmen, striking him with its foot a
1 blow that fellcd him to the bottom
/! of the boat. Another of the crewr aised
= an oar and hit the bird with AL his
$ might, when it flew away.
}, Banning, Gray, and the boy were
It picked up. The latter was uncon.
= scious, hut after Il good rubbing lie was
brought TO. Banning was bleeding
about the face and more or less injured
about the body.
- THE wounded bird fought yiciously
r when an attempt was made to capture
a it. 1t was finally lassocd and taken or
= board. Three weeks aftcrward it died
/, and il is now at Valparaiso being
!. stuffed.
The boy said that before he wen
q down he felt himself losing conscious
4 ness and grabbed ut the enormous birG
' that was lowering over him. Ii,
( caught its feet and held on with gril
. of drowning man. He partially re
. gained his senses in the air, bu
n thought he was higher up than h
n really was and did not dare to let go.
# II have seen many big condors ant
I other large BIRDS continued the Cap
d tain, "but never any winged thing a
o large rs this The stretch OF its wing
Il was over fourtain feet The head an,
a neck were destitute of feathers, an,
J. the former, which was much flattened
4: was skinned and bleeding. 1t had tn
p big, strong beak of an albatross. an
70 the plumage, though somewhat darker
sr was not unlike that of the latter bird
L. Its feet were only partially webbed
During the time we had it on boar
and until it died it was not seen to eat
but it slept constantly, and it too