The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-08
PARSON SAW wATERSPoUT.
IT WAS n MILE AND a HALF HIGH,
YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE.

Skipper was shy or spinninE the Warn HIM
self, 30 re Get Hlis Reverend Passenger 70
Tell II to the A1nrine Reporters-Then ne
Turned In and wouidnt De interviewed.
There were two passengers aboard the steam.
ship Asiatic Prince. which arrived last evening
from Brazilian ports and anchored under tho
torch of the bronze young woman at the head
OF the bay. Tho young woman did not
blush. although sho had cause to do SO. when
she saw tho skipper OF the steamship. Capt. An.
derson. with a great show Of cordiality, give tho
two passengers good.by as they went over the
ships sido. One of the passengers Is a dominic.
the Rev. James l.. Kennedy; the other is his
friend, Mr.. Atkins.
This story has to do only with the dominic.
the skipper and the third officer. The skipper
has spun some entertaining yarns in his long
life afloat. He reserved tho tallest one for
tho marine reporters at Quarantine, and he
selected bis unsuspecting passenger, who 10 not
a man OF tho sea. as the narrator. The chief
wouldn't be responsible for 1t, the second officer
did not care to sanction II. and the third
officer, who was tho only man that could
be seen last night, said he hadn't seen the
waterspout." The yarn deals with q water
spout. And such a waterspouti The like Of
1t has never been limited at in meteorlog-
ical annals or even the logbooks OF the
clevcrest Yankee clippers that had q habit Of
running across the queercst things afloat. This
is the way the story was written by-perhaps-
the dominic and turned into Quarantine by tho
The Rev. James L. Kennedy describes the
waterspout as follows:
'on Wednesday, Feb. 2. about z o'clock in the
seen its equal either rs to height, size.
90 o. north, and longitude, o. 81
west. The waterspout appeared about four
saatnts si' mi1ss and I'd I So1.b fully r one s "nd q hHlf
heavens Just above were blackened and lowering.
The spray and yapor at the base appeared to be
ward to a distance Of 200 feet. A most astonishing
feature Of this phenomenon was its long dura-
or less. This waterspout continued for half an
pendicular. but as It began to give way, It
sky. swerving In a northwesteriy direction it
broke near the middle, then reunited. and
mense sheets all about the locality"
Two reporters went down the bay last night
IN n Battery boat to- get more nfSrmatl9n about
the drab hull OF the steamship the third officer.
who has On accent almost as broad as the
the skipper had turned in and that all the mon
who were on duty when the waterspout
w Wien seen the "s third 0'l ofiicer in ls shsas 0G fnoS
the reporters that the clergyman had
described a waterspout q mile and a half high.
and he whistled softly. Then he remarked
that he was sorry he couldn't say any
thing about the spout, as he was be-
low when 1t was seen; that he had
seen waterspouts and took no interest in them:
but that IL he had known there had been one In
his neighborhood q mile and a half high he
should have turned out to see it,. AS to
the clergyman, the third officer said, In a tone
American. one Of your own countrymen.
y'know. and a Nonconformist."
The third officer finally said he knew very
little about the spout. had not heard anybody
aboard ship talk about it. and really could
not say whether or not any body had
seen it. He was so much interested in the
reporters version of the magnitude Of
the whirling apparition, that as they were
rowed away he walked from the quarter
deck to the bow, asking for more
information about it. The face Of the seaman
at his side. when he turned it to the moonlight.
wore q smile that had evidently boon o grin q
moment before In the shadow.