The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-07-20
AN ACROBATIC STEAMER.
An Old Sailors Story of a Re-
markable Voyage.

ayes. there he j., said Henry
The boys had gone down To the pier
to.looiS for the Old Sailor 1t was
saturday. and as there was no school
they were in hopes that their old
friend would tell them yarn. lie
was sitting in his faruri.r place al the
end Of the pier. gazing ont on the
ocean. The boys followed the direc-
tion Of his gaze. and saw a two-masted
schooner-rigged steamer. deeply laden.
blowing her way southwark at slow
pace. with an acre of foam rising al
most To her haw>c-pipes. She rolled
slowly and heavily a. she went. and
poured ain oily column of black smoke
from her single fat funnel.
An wot kind O vessel do We
think that are" asked the Old Sailor.
without looking around.
"a steamer. of course" said Henry.
An VERY good. too. so fur as il
goes responded the Old Sailor. in
dulging in one of his silent laughs.
But wot kind o. steamer
Looks like tramp" answered
George.
That's VERY good. indeed" said
the Old Sailor. "A tramp she are and
tramp she'll be. An she are VERY
much like another tramp once
knowed. only She are sumnat shorter
an considerable more by the head,
witch the same tramps often is
xviii you tell US about the tramp
you knew" asked Henry
..srI..S 49,. 81 x,*.rr,- ;Jant..n1 xb;ux~
I'm a-standin' by fur to do" said the
Old Sailor. lie took another careful
look at the steamer and then broke
out thus: witch the same We may call
me marine ef IL warent in the year
afore quit the sea an came here TO
spend the rest o. my material born days
a-tellin' You boys about it. | shipped
as second mate onto the tramp steam
er Iron Mary. with cargo o. tin cans.
goatskins an rattle>nakcs' teeth fur
Whites island"
why. what are mathematics teeth
good for?" asked George.
The natives % that island" an
swered the Old Sailor, wear them an
tin cans fur ornaments an goatskins
fur clothes. an we was 10 exchange
our cargo fur Whites Island oats. witch
the same will make slow boss fast.
onlv they is VERY hard 10 get COS
wy. the natives went trade 'em 'cept-
in in leap-ycar. il bcin' their belief
that oats growed in them years amt
good. We got under way from Moo
York on VERY fine mornln' in Feb
ruary. an pa>>in' the Scotland light
ship at four bells in the forenoon
watch. laid our course south by east.
The Iron Mary were not "A VERY fast
ship. but She were "A VERY pcrtiklcr'y
fine-built vessel. She war built in
nine water-iight compartments. with
slidin bulkh.ad doors. so that If She
got into collidgion you could shet up
the compartment wot were busted an
keep the water from goin' into any
other part. Lcastways. that's wot We
could do if the doors worked all right,
w'ich the same they ginerally don't.
An that were the cause o. this ere
yarn wot I'm a-tellin We.
I'VE had good weather fur several
days. an got about fifteen hundred
mile on our course. Then the byrome
ter beginncd fur TO go down slow and
stiddy. II KEEP a-goin down fur nigh
onto two days, an still the weather
were clear an conf table. But our old
man. Cap'n Waterbury Boggs. seq he to
me. seq he: 'Yc know wot the poet SEE,
don't YEP An allowed didn't know
no poets. An seq he 10 me. seq he:
The poet ser: Long foretold long
last; short notice. soon past An
SCI 10 him. ser l: The poet wot said
that were a seafarin' pusson.' jess like
that. ser to him. sen I. him bcin' the
cap'n o the ship. an me the second
mate. hadn' much morc'n 20. the
words out o. my mouth wen IL be-
ginned fur to cloud mp. an awful
swell rolled up out o. the southeast
ne Iron Mary she rolled so that We
couldn't keep your feet, an the skip
per he changed her course SOS she'd
head into t. At three bells in the
evenin IL bcginncd fur 10 blow. an by
midnight II were howlin gale. Afore
mornin' got up ~ hurricane. an
we steamer were a-shippin' water till
! 'hort her decks "a he clean stove in.
ne cap'n he ordered us to put lie In
.ne drain pipes, an so we soon stopped
'0s breakin' 9 the seas, an rode