The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1897-10-01
Ehe1emurrat-S Star
SURPERSTITIONS.
THE SAME CHILDISH LOGIC GOVERNS
SAILORS GENERALLY.

New York Times.
"Supcrstltions? Why the merchant
marine is full Of them. Not so much
as before the days of steam, perhaps,
but there's enough left to make the
captains life a merry-gn-round."
SO said James j. Ferris, for many
years the United States shipping com
missioner in Old Slip. He was an
American sailor in the good old days
Of sails and spars, and knows
thoroughly the traditions and dialect
OF the sea.
'For instance" he continued,
"when the Mallory liner Lcona reach
ed the port OF New York last May, az
ter a fearful fire in the stccrage, the
sailors refused to touch the burned
and charred bodies slowed in the
fo'castle-thirteen Of them-and the
ambulance force had TO get special
men to remove them. The crew was
composed OF Italians, and their super
stition explains their inhumanity.
You can't induce a mariner OF that
race to touch a corpse. They have Il
notion that the ghost OF any dead
body they handle will haunt them to
eternity. All the Latin races that
follow the sea-Italians, Spaniards
and Portuguesc-are stepped with
superstition. They all have the same
horror Of any dead on board"
''Thcy don't make any better
sailors" he continued, 1.-THE world over
than the Scandinayians, but they are
loaded to the guards With snpersti-
ton. / remember n time we were
beating up from the Gulf Of Mexico
with a good three master, when Il
squall sprung up, and a clever lad in
the crew fell from a yard and died.
He came of good family in Maine, and
the three Americans in the crew de-
cided we'd take the body home, in
stead Of feeding it to the sharks. We
slowed the poor boy on the forward
deck, but we couldn't keep a man
jack OF those ghost-fearing Scandina-
viaus on the lookout. 1t took all the
arsenal we had aboard, too, to keep
them down till we reached New York.
"Now, in this matter Of a corpse on
shipboard," the veteran skipper pro.
ceeded, 'JGhn Chinaman is just as
tiercely superstitious the other way.
It's a big plank in his religious plat
form to see that every Chinaman's
body after he is dead is taken home
and buried in its native soil, and a
Chinese crew will mutiny quicker than
wink if any white captain drops one
OF their dead overheard. An old mate
OF mine was telling me the other day
of a hot scrap they had once with a
Celestial crew on a voyage back from
Hongkong. before the passage Of that
Chinese exclusion law, and his vessel
did a rushing business in transporting
Cinnamon to San Francisco. Wher
about two days out n of these pas
sengerS died, and it was not discovered
by the officers OF the vessel for four
teen days. They're powerful slick
about Keeping their secrets.
'When the body was at last diScOv'
cred the captain ordered it overheard
The pigtails, both passengers and
crew, were %sullen, and gathered in
Ominous-looking groups about the
ship. On the second day after the
crew rose, and there was the very
devil Of a val dance for an hour. The
officers were vastly o%utnnmbered, but
well armed. When they got the
m~utincers under, after IA fierce fight,
they found four Of them dead, six
scalded, while two had leaped over
board to escape an officers knife.
"But, after ALL" Ferris ratified on,
"when 1t comes to an all-around stock
OF moss-gr0wn superstitions, the
Spanish sailor gets the medal. lie
has about all Uf that sort Of stuff that
every other fellow has, and Il good
deal Of private luggage, too. Next
time you hear that any vessel OF the
Spanish navy is in port, get near en-.
ough to cover her with IA spyglass
about sunset, and you'll see a perform
ance that's been going on for about
400 years. Centuries ago, when the
Spaniards ruled the wave, a Spanish
man-of-war was lost under curious
circumstances. The ship was jump
ing ahead before Il lively Levent
breeze, when suddenly the heavens
grew dark with a coming squall. The
scamen hurried quickly to their sta
tiOns to shorten sail. The vessel heel
ed over under her bellying canvas, and
the sailors tugged at the clcw lines,
but not u sheet would start.
"As a last resort the halyards were
cut. Under ordinary conditions the
yards would have fallen under the
caps and spilled the wind out Of the
sails; but they remained mast-headcd,
Arm as a rock, and in a few minutes
the vessel capsizcd. Some time after
ward it was discovered that the
sheaves through which the ropes for
shortening sails were rove had been SO
tightly plugged up with sticks and
other distractions that the ropes
could not slide through. At Que the
solemn seamen Of Spain argued that
no human agency could have done
this job so well, and it was laid, OF
course, at the door of the devil.
swell, now for the antidote. Short
ly after this dire calamity a general