St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-07-27
JULY FOURTH ON A MACKEREL
FISHERMAN.

Charles Henry had decided to
celebrate the day, and preparations
were being made for what proved to
be in our case a great event. We
had been cruising up and down the
coasts of New England and Nova
Scotia for several weeks, but finding
no mackerel we were now making
for the open ocean in the vicinity oil
Georges Banks. Our crew-there
were seventeen of us-included six
different nationalities and three
distinct races; only three were
citizens Of the United States, while
the remaining fourteen were divided
between French Canadians, Irish
men, Norwegians, Germans and
Italians; the white, the black and
the red races were all represented in
our number. Less than half the
ships company could read or write;
most Of them were extremely
ignorant and superstitious, and
their rough wandering life had left
its indelible mark upon the fisher
men. Such were the men who had
planned to honor the anniversary
day of American independence, and
among all the celebrations Of this
kind | doubt if there was ever one
more unique or more hearty than
that on board the Charles Henry.
The day dawned bright and clear;
the long swell OF the Atlantic gave
swinging motion to the vessel. At
sunrise the celebration was to begin,
and such preparations as were
made! No lady could have taken
more care in arraying herself for
fashionable party than did the men
of the Charles Henry in their at
tcmpts to outshine each other.
Clothesbags were ransacked, cloth
ing was hastily put together and
certainly whatever the costumes
may have lacked in elegance they
made up in variety The Indian
was clad in the complete outfit of a
medicine-man; the Italians and the
Norwegians wore the dress of their
homelands. An Irishman had great
trouble in getting ready for the day,
but necessity is the mother of in
vention," and he astonished us all
by braiding together small pieces of
rope and the remnants of an Ameri-
can flag, and this he wound about
his body after the fashion of an
ancient buckler. The captain, as
master of ceremonies, had manu-
featured suit out of red cambria;
with a white hat and an immense
collar and with blue stockings, he
was the striking figure on deck. The
rest of the men were rugged in every
variety of costume, most of these
decidedly original, and taken all in
all, we were a motley company.
Alta m. we were really for the open
ing part OF the days programme.
We stood in lines on each side of the
main mast and waited anxiously for
the first rays Of the rising sun. Just
as the beams of scarlet light began
to shoot across the water the
captain gave the order, Run up the
flag" and away he hauled on the
ropes; in a moment the Stars and
Stripes were floating from the main
peak. The men with uncovered
heads looked silently at the waving
banner, and in an instant as hearty
a cheer rang out as ever was heard
at any patriotic meeting of American
citizens; the brass cannon was fired,
guns were discharged-all this with
the cheering lasted several minutes,
and was the salute of the crew Of
Charles Henry in honor of the
American flag. To end with we
shouted out, in as tuneful style as
we were able, the lines:
"'Tis the Star Spanglcd Banner,
Oh, long may it wave
Ger the land of the free
And the home of the brave"
Cheers were given again and
again, and each time we fired the
cannon loud huzza accompanied
the report.
During the forenoon we had tests
of skill in climbing and in throwing
the harpoon, A Canadian took the
prize for being the best climber, and
some of his feats were wonderful
He went up hand over hand on one
of the halyards to the masthead, {
distance of eighty feet, hung by hi'
arms from the cross-trees, drew him
self up on to the foretop, and ther
slid down along the forestry to thu
bowsprit; all this was done withou
stop, proving beyond a doubt tina
the man had muscles Of iron and ;
trained head, or he could not hav
gone through such trying an,
long-continued strain to both min
and body.
There was great deal Of rivalr
in throwing the harpoon, for five {
the crew had been on whalin
voyages where they had had year
of experience, and between these me
the contest was long and somewha
bitter. An air-tight barrel, the side
of which had been painted like
target, was thrown overheard; tn
was the mark for the harpooner
The barrel was bobbing up an
down-one side up, then the other
sometimes on end and rolling all Il
while, and it was an INSTEAD