The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-06
A CAT OUT oF THE DEEP.
Modern Mariners Who Experience
Something More Uneanny Than the

Something hoEe ncHuhs lhhn the
AlbatrOzs.
From the Seattle Post-Interigencer.
OF all the disasters daily reported in
the Post Intelligencer as having occurred
during the recent storm. not one compar-
ed in grewsoms fearfulness with the ex-
perience of the steamer Mabel on Friday
night, on her return trip from the Skagit
river. 1t was one Of those singular. blood
curdling stories that would not obtain a
moments credence on the unsupported
evidence Of a single witness. To this one
all the crew have testified. some with
hushed voices and paled faces: others with
others with clustering swear words and
the strange oaths which characterize the
true mariner. In fact Lilly, Bogardus &
CO., the owners OF the Mabel. thought for
a time that they would have to seek a new
crew, and this might have been difficult
matter, for the reason that the strange
appearance on the Mabel may be suppOs-
ed 10 have tainted her IN the superstitiOus
Mlnu OF the seaIarer.
When this terrible thing occurred the
Mabel was eight miles out between West
Point and Ten-AIile Point. Pilot John w.
Brooks and Assistant Walter Allenby were
both in the pilOt-house and attending
strictly 10 duty, and during the ire
mendous excitement which followed sub
SeQuently one or the other braVely stuck
to the wheel. or there Is no knowing what
would have become Of the vessel; for all
the crew were incapacitated by terror.
even Chief Engineer Charles Sperry,
hitherto believed to be man of thorough
ly well-balanced mind. leaving his cuddy
hole and rushing on deck screaming: For
Gods sake, put us ashore"
Pilot Brooks says that at the time the
crew was SO suddenly struck with ter
ror. it was blowing living gale, what
ever that may be, from the southwest The
wind howled and mOaned around the
smokestack as it does around the solitary
palm of the desert in the opera of The
Queen of Sheba." The waves ran higher
than some foothills, and some forty or fifty
Of them came splashing and crashing on
the Mabels decks.
After this one wave, more mighty than
its fellows, raised it's crest aloft from the
mighty deep, almost bringing the bottom
up with il, reared itself nearly as high as
the foremost. and broke with a roar across
That wave brought "the thing with It.
As the wave scurried through the lee
scuppers, the deckhands saw a most un-
canny object that had ridden in on its crest,
and they were paralyzed with horror.
On the forecastle hatch sat a cat, lick
ing the SAT- water from lts paws and
white claws.
Those claws! How they made the crew
Shudder.
And then, those glaring eyes! How the
blood mounted to the paled cheeks of the
men as they caught the Svengali glances
What was the color of this monster that
even the sea had refused to harbor, 1t
was difficult to ascertain, not for want of
witnesses, but because they would all talk
at once and no two would agree.
Meanwhile, as the cat went calmly on
with it's toilet, the crew grew a trifle
holder. One man had the hardihood to
throw a potato at it, another a stick of
wood; and then all of them were throwing
anything and everything they could lay
their hands on. Action gave them cour-
age, and they yelled to encourage one an
other: XIII it, Kill it!'
But not a single missile struck the crea-
ture.
This will prove to anybody as supersti-
tious as a saiorman that il was no cat,
but fend that had stolen the shape of
a cat. 1t was when this natural .conclu-
sion forced itself upon them that Engi-
neer Sperry yelled in agonzed tones:
For Gods sake put ashore. Tain [
natural! Put ashore at the Point!'
While the crew turned appealingly to the
pilot, the cat disappeared. That proved
everything. Demons acted just like that
in the fairy stories.
1t was later seen climbing the mast
One of the boys is sure he saw 1t making
for the hold. The steamer was brought up
at Lilly, Bogardus q Co.'s dock in fear
and trembling. That. of course, refers to
the crew. And they were persuaded to
make another trip on the Mabel with many
misgivings For there was this terrible,
haunting thought: Suppose the demon cat
should be a female, and they generally
are; and suppose she should bring up a
family in the hold that would ride the
storms and haunt every ship on the sound?
How awful that would be!