Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1889-06-28

sign OF life he gave was sllgnt move
ment of the eye now and then. He lay
with his great dorsal fin baking in the
hot sun, and so near that we could see
every little detail. All agreed that he
was the largest shark any one had ever
seen, although all of us had sailed in the
warm seas, and some of the men had
turned away when the cook climbed upon
the rail and said he would stop little
for game with the big fellow. He
meant by that that he would have talk
with him. I have met numbers of ships
cooks who claimed to have "made up
with sharks and were not afraid of being
hurt by them. The cook sat just oppo-
site the sharks middle, and he had be-
gun sort of chant, when passed for
ward intending to find a missile, and
heave it over and scare the monster away.
l had just found an old bit of iron and
got back to the rail when there was a
splash and yell. The cook was in the
water through some careless move.of his.
l had my eye on the shark, and his move
ments were like lightning. With one
flirt of his tail he Slowed himself around,
his great jaws opened, and was looking
right down upon him as he took the cook
in clear to the middle and bit him in two
SO slick and clean that the upper part of
the body rolled away from the sharks
nose and remained on the surface directly
below me. After half minute it began
slowly to sink, but was not yet out of
sight when saw the shark seize it. AS
he grabbed it he rushed away and we
saw him no more.
The tragedy upset us in more ways than
one. Here we were, left without cook
at the beginning of the voyage, and there
was something in his taking off which
aroused the superstition of the hands for
ward. 1 think the Captain felt it as much
as we did, but of course he concealed it
as much as possible. All that day we lay
roasting and motionless, and as the sun
went down and light breeze sprang up
every man uttered a heartfelt "Thank
Heaven!" We crowed too soon, however.
The breeze did not push us over five miles
before it tired out, and we were left as
before, the sky full of stars and the sea
like mirror. l was in the mates watch
and came ON duty at midnight. Indeed,
we were all on duty for that matter, as
there was nothing whatever to do and we
were sleeping on deck. I was aroused,
however, to take the lookout, and took
my seat on the heel of the bowsprit as a
matter of form. As we were not moving,
no other sailing craft could move, and the
few steamers crossing on our line could
see our lights and avoid us. Something
happened, however, before I had been on
duty an hour. The Josephine was rising
and falling on the CLASSY swells, and
swinging her head to every point of the
compass by turns, and was scanning the
sea and the heavens in the most perfume
tory way, when an object suddenly came
into view. 1t was black spot against
the darkness, and after rising to my feet
and watching it for few minutes made
out, as 1 thought, the dismasted hull of a
small vessel. 1t was coming down to-
ward us, and when sure of this 1 hailed
the mate. He came forward with the
glass, and after long look he said:
"Well, that beats my time. 1t is the
hull of dismasted schooner, and stands
up high and dry. There's lot of rattle
around her bows, and believe whale is
tangled up in it and towing the wreck ~
He sent me to call the Captain, and in
few minutes all hands had caught the
excitement. The wreck stopped for a
while on our starboard bow, and not over
a quarter of mile away. Then it crossed
our DOWS dOWH OH OuT pOIb
side to the quarter, where it lay so close
that every man could see what it was
1t was then, at the suggestion of the
Captain, that we raised our voices in a
shout to see if anybody was aboard the
strange craft. We were answered almost
Immediately by the barking of dog, and
the Captain said:
''There are men there, and they may
be starving and suffering. Well, lower
boat and pull out to her."
''Heavens! sir, but you wouldn't think
of II" whispered the mate. "She's being
towed by who knows what? See! There
she moves again And just listen to
that howling!"
1t was true that the hulk was moving.
She moved across our stern at slow speed
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