Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-02
PURSUED BY A SHARK.
Rather GruesOme Situation of Captain
Andrews on the Ocean.
STILL SAILING BRAVELY ON'
Mermaid and Sea Serpent Probably About
Hundred Miles Apart.
THEY HAVE 1000 MILES TO SAIL YET
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcH.1


BALTIMORE, Aug. 1.-Captain Thomas
Morgan, in command of the steel steamship
Sobraon, which arrived here Thursday
evening from Liverpool, reports that about
o'clock July "a he sighted small boat ahead
with sails set. Supposing it was boats
crew from shipwreck, he bore down upon
it. To his astonishment there was but one
man in the boat, and he seemed perfectly at
ease.
The man brought his little craft alongside
the Sobraon, and entered into conversation
with Captain Morgan. He said he was Cap
tain Andrews, that his boat was the Mer-
maid, and that he had started in a race
across the ocean from Boston to Landsend,
England, with boat the same size called
Sea Serpent He had then been out 30
days. As the Sobraon was north latitude
42o So, west longitude $50 ~, Captain
Andrews was about 2, ,146 miles from his
destination. By request Captain Morgan
received the logbook of the lonely mariner
up to the date of meeting the Sobraon, to be
forwarded to a Boston paper. 1t was
mailed to-day.
CHASED BY A BIG SHARK.
Captain Morgan says the courageous mar
liner was well and in good spirits; was short
of nothing needed, but regretted having
been out so long When the two parted
company the weather was cloudy, with
light breeze from the northwest, and when
last seen the Mermaid was sailing with
flowing sheet. A shark had been following
the Mermaid for days. and when she made
fast to the Sobraon the two pilot fish which
had preceded her for the same time and be-
longed to the shark, secreted themselves
beneath the tiny craft until she got under
way, when they renewed their places just
ahead.
The logbook contained but little of inter-
est except Captain Andrews meeting with
the California, which supplied him with
little heavy weather medicine. He regret
ted not being able to shoot the sun for days
to ascertain his position.
SUPERSTITION OF THE OLD SALTS.
From the point of view of the old salts,
Captain Andrews is in a bad way. The
company of shark looks ominous. What
does the shark want if it be not square
meal, and why should it stick to the Mer-
maid if it did not expect Captain Andrews
to 90 crazy and Jump overheard? Those are
the questions the old salts are very apt to
ask and to answer to the dismay of the
Captain.
From any point of view the outlook for
the Mermaid is not cheering. By the
steamer route the distance from New York
to Queenstown is $500 miles, and yet here
is this tiny racer 2, 146 miles from its desti-
nation after having been 80 days out from
Boston. To be sailing even with blowing
sheet in such boat, with hungry shark
only for company, is bad enough, but when
one considers that the season for cyclones is
now at hand, and that small boat cannot
g. 30 hat ind Of
Storm as a large ship can, the hone of Cap
tain Andrews ever reaching any land is
slim enough, not to mention the hope of
completing the journey.
BUILD OF THE SEA BOATS.
A number of such voyages as this have
been attempted. The boats are commonly
spoken of as dories but they are no more
like dory than q Newport catboat is like a
mud scow. The hulls are always built on
the deep cutter model, and are carefully
decked over and so ballasted that the crew,
can throw over the sea anchor when a gale
comes, close to his matches, and turn in to
sleep until pleasant weather, always pro-
viding that some comber does not crush in
his cookie shell.
Of course the shark followed the Mermaid
because of the waste food that Captain An
drews threw overheard, and the pilot fish
a
little dog can always be found handy when
a big dog is killing sheep.
NEWS OF THE SEA SERPENT.
The steamer Kehrwieder, which arrived
at Deptford, near London, July II, re-
ported passing the Sea Serpent July s. Her
exact position was not reported, but she
was probably not over 100 miles from the
Mermaid, judging by the speed the Kehr-
wieder had made
While a small boat has now and then
crossed the Atlantic-a ships yawl once
landed "a negro children from the Gold
Coast in Brazil-the chances are all against
the success of such voyages as the Mermaid
and the Sea Serpent are undertaking.
The shippers are very apt to do as the
captain of the Dark Secret did two or
three years ago, get frightened and give it
up when a friendly merchant ship heaves 10
sight homeward bound.