The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-04-28
DANGERS OF A SAILORS LIFE.
Some of the Ora " backs that Are Mt
Generally Appreciated.


Generally Appreciated.
"Thcre are dangers to seamen about
which landsmen never think" said the
captain of one of the Baltimore fleet ell
gagged ill the Rio coffee trade to little
company at the Riggs. You wouldn't
consider the apparently simple process of
weighing anchor risky one, yet there is
part Of the job so disagreeable not to
say dangerous, that the men always
draw lots to see who shall perform the
duty. In the ships bow there is COM
partment hardly big enough to hold two
persons comfortably, and here the an
Choir chain is slowed The seaman who
is to do the slowing and the under officer
who is to oversee the work reach the
place down little ladder through all
aperture scarcely large enough for Il
Fellow to squeeze himself. It is so dark
your fucr, and lantern has to be taken
along. The Udor at this time is bad
enough, but when the chain begins to
COME III it becomes almost unbearable
Some Ut the harbors III the tropics-in-
decu. most Of theln-t,re filthy, and there
are brought up from their bottoms all
sorts Of disagreeuble souvenirs OF your
visit
But Of, the real danger: Each link
has to br carefully placed in it's
PROPER position. as the chain comes slowly
i'll, for otherwise when it came to drop
ping anchor again the whole side of the
snip might be torn out. Sometimes,
through the carelessness of the men OIL
deck, the windlass is allowed to slip, and
the chain begins to run out at a great
rate. Then fellow has to be quick, or
he will be dragged up through the chute
and his life crushed out. He is warned
of the danger by the metallic rattle and
the smoke arising from the friction as
the fast moving chain comes in contact
with the chute, and he presses as far
back as he can from the iron mass, for
awaits him if his clothing should become
entangled in the chain at such moment.
Only few voyages since ON my ship a
man was caught in this way. The mate.
who was by his side, managed to rescue
him, but In doing so was himself carried
along with the chain and had his life
squeezed out.
Il had a pretty close call myself once
While slowing away the chain 1 acci-
dentally kicked over the lantern and the
light was extinguished. or course, l
could not stop in my work to let those
above know what had happened, for the
misplacing of single link, Us l have
said, might result III disaster, and the
mate, unfortunately, was not then near
at manu-. lO De ulOie Ill the u1fkncSS
nd the horrible stencil was far from
pleasant, but of sudden heard sound
that filled me with terror-the rattle of
the chain as it began to swiftly pay out.
Someone had Numbered, and there I was
in that black and l0athsome hole, the
victim Of the blunder. I shrank back
pale and trembling, for it was only IL few
months before that poor devil had met
the same fate that it seemed awaited
me. Remember, | was only "A few inches
removed from that rushing, rampant
mass of iron, and there was no little
likelihood that in some vagary of mo-
ton it might ensnare NE: in it's tolls. The
awful noise, the stencil, the odor of
smoke, the sparks us the chain strained
against the chute, all these had their eff
feet upon me, and my mind became ii
blank. When the mate came for me
with Il lantern had swooned and fallen
across the compartment where the chain
had lain a few moments before. The
chain had run its course before tainted,
else l should have teer ground to pieces
-WashiI lou Star,