The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-10
raR BIGGEST SHIP EVER HERE.
The Ivan and Eer Mohammedsn Crew,
A Peculiar People.

I The Ivan and Ser Mohammedsn Crew.
A Peculiar People.
The British steamship Ivan, the largest
ship which ever entered Savannah, is lying
at Gordon's wharf loading cotton for Liver
pool She is go feet long. 2.3I7 registered
tonnage, SIG feet hold and 4S feet beam.
Her cotton carrying capacity is about Il, 600
bales, and she will take from this city IL 800
bales
4 peculiar feature Of the Ivan is that
when fully loaded she draws but eighteen
feet Of water, and can easily take her cargo
at the wharf without the necessity OF gotcg
outside and being loadsi from lighters.
The vessel is built altogether for freight,
the only saloon accommo dations being those
Tor the officers She Is one OF the fastest
tramp steamships aaOat aud one Of the
handsomest. She made the trip from Mar
settles TO Savannah in sixteen days, which,
Capt. Delargy SAID, is nothing ike the time
she is capable Of making. He wasn't
pushed and steamed slowly.
The Ivan belo 1gs 20 Sir Edward Bates s.
Son Of Liverpool, and is ons of the first
vessels ever equipped with triple expansion
engines She was built at Belfast, ireland,
by Harland g. Wolff, and has for years
been engaged in the Bombay trade.
The VANS crew is a varied one. being
composed Of Irishmen, EnglIshmen, Portu-
guess, Parsees ami Africans. Capt.
Delargy is a native Of County Antrim, Ire
land. He Is a handsome man, of jolly dis
position and kindly manner which so at
tacnes him to his crew that it would do any
thing for him without a murmur.
The other officers are Englishmen. The
steward Is a Portuguese. Forty-nine of the
crew are Parsees and one is a native
African.
The Parsees belong 60 East India and are
the adherents Of islamism. They have a
head man called Ssrang, and through him
the orders of the officers are given. They are
people peculiar 10 themselves in many
wavs. They will eat nothing cooked by the
steamers steward nor anything killed by
Christian.
a separate galley is provided for them in
the stern Of the ship, where they have their
own range and co king utensils, which ara
altogether OF tin. pots, kettles, seucepans
and everything else. Even the plates from
which they eat are tin.
Tho only meat which the Parsees eat is
mutton, and the sheep has 10 be brought
aboard the steamer alive. One man does
the butchering and dressing and another
one the cooking. Rice is their principal
dish and they drink tea and coffee. When
the meal is ready the Serang ca ls his peo.
pie together, and after prayer, all hands
sit down with taeir caps on, 1t being part
OF their religion 20 eat with covered heads.
The cooking utensils Of the Parsees are
zealOusly guarded and no Christian is al
lowed to contaIninste their sacredneSs by
using them. Every morning the East
Indians say their prayers facing the east,
and some of them pray five and six times
during the day. Capt. Delargy said the
present crew Is by no means as religious as
some which he has had. His experience
with other Parsees has boon that they
wanted TO be praying TO Mahomet all the
time.
The Parsees, Capt. Delargy said, make
fine sailors in warm weather, but they are
incapable of standing much cold. They
are very obedent and once told 70 do
thing 60 ahead with their work without any
trouble.
A MORNING News reporter chatted with
the Serang. who speaks a little broken En-
glish, about the matrimonial feature of
their lives. He said he could have as many
wives as he could support but there we're
few among the crew who could manage TO
support more than one. The Serang said
be is a widoweF, but expects to get married
soon. He has q sweetheart in India, whom
he has been counting for long time, and
now he feels that he is able to marry her.
When asked If LIE wouldn't like to have
three or four wives the Serang showed his
teeth with broad grin and replied, "May
be 50, but yon don't savy Indian"
The MORNING NEWS about a year ago
pub lshed an extended account on the char
ac5erlsllcs Of tho Parsces, a crew Of whom
were here on sn English vessel.
Inc Ivan will sail for Liverpool about
Nov. ~, and ay make another trip here
before the season is over.