The Portland daily press., 1895-07-20

Willard. On the first page of the book
the author describes picturesquely and
briefly his earliest youth;
"I was born October 30, 1928, at Simon
toms Cove, Cape Elizabeth, Me-, Graded
in fishing boat, and brought up to be a
fisherman; so that my earliest recollec-
tions are all of the sea.
"My first fishing trip was made in
1886, when was not quite eight years
old and though l caught but forty seven
mackerel, while my father caught be-
tween two and three barrels, my catch
was thought to be big one for so small
boy, and felt very proud of my first
success. !"
| This was the proper introduction to a
life of conspicuous hardship and success.
At the age of about twelve the young
fisherman was the hero of the following
adventure:
Zone night while I was doing boy s
duty on the dog watch, from six to eight
| in the evening, and amusing myself by
catching squid, saw big fish swim
ming round which soon stole my bait
| The water was sparkling with phospho-
rus and I could see him plainly; SO l
baited large shark hook with a had
dock and dropped it overheard. In mo-
ment he swallowed it. Wild with excite
ment 1 rushed to the forecastle and shout
| ed, L have him.
"The crew tumbled on deck to see what
1 did have, at once sssaw it was a shark,
and proceeded to haul him up, my brother
William standing ready with lance to
kill him. To the surprise of all, the
fish rolled the line round him, so that he
came up tail first and could not be lanced
for fear of cutting the line. He would
hit hard enough blows on the side of the
schooner to shake her, and in his strug-
giles hit Eben Willard blow on the face
that knocked him down. Meanwhile my
father talked strong language to me and
forbade my shark fishing in future.
There's no sleeping where that boy is
he said -
How he caught the largest COD fish ever
landed on House Island is told as fol-
lows:
"After dinner I put out two lines in
forty-five fathoms Of water, and
presently felt something big and strong
pulling net of them. 1t struggled
nobly, while the crew looked on laugh.
ingly and shouted, Tug away, Bennie
you'll soon get him. They thought
was fast to one of those Edeep water
skates, as large as barn door and with
three or four tails. The more I tugged
the more they made fun of me. But ]
could say nothing. The boy on a vessel,
as is well known. has to take all man.
ner of insults and still keep cool. 1t is
pretty hard work sometimes At last ]
could see large bubbles of air and two
big cod fish on my line, SO shouted to the
crew to jump for their gaffs. Mr.. Will
am Jones, who was nearest the rail split
ting fish, looked over and sang out sc
loud that all the crew left their work
and sprang to the side. The two fisI
We're soon hauled on deck. 1t was esti
mated that the biggest one was good fol
130 pounds, and it proved to weigh rs
pounds when dried. 1t was said to be
the largest Goldfish ever landed on House
Island, and the spots on it were as big
as silver dollars. 1 think Mr.. Alpha
Sterling will remember that cod. i
was the talk for many day"
There was
SUPERSTITION AMONG SAILORS
in Capt. Wizards youth as is shown BY
what happened to him one night OF
board the fisherman:
"When I got out of my berth Mr.. Will
liam Jones went for my feet, roughly
hauled my stockings off and threw then
overheard. getting me another pair il
their place. When I asked him what h
did it for he sole1nnly said: 'Bennie,
don't you ever wear black stockings OF
board this vessel again. We have had al
this bad luck by your black stockings. =
There was great wonderment in Port
land when Capt Willard brought in hi
first sword fish. OF this adventure h
says: "In the summer of 1858 / caugh
my first sword fish in a Tapped streak
t.o..+.o I.oo,a @, 81 hoat fanriaet, feok 1a,yu