Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-12-14
Jib- Boom and
Dolphin Strike.

"Ai'' VIC SUI against n6f is tnat she
one of those straight-nosed boats. -
cried old Ephraim, whom we used to
call The Rover" when we six met
every summer at that little fishing
port On the granite coast of Maine.
Ephraim was laying down the law
to us, sitting all arrow on the veranda
OF the post-office-also grocery and no
ton store.
You just look out there and see
how sudden and ugly she comes to an
end like. A ship ought to rise out of
the water at the bow with a nice, slant
ing sheer. But that isn't all there is TO
1t, either. It's a matter of utility, too.
You see, those straight-nosed boats
have no bowsprit; neither jib-boom;
no, nor dolphin striker
And what's the harm in that,
Uncle Ephraim?" l ventured to ask.
Harm? Plenty Of harm There is no
luck without a jib-boom and a dolphin
striker to a sea-going ship, young man
Think that's a superstition, Ell? Say
do you know the meaning of them
terms jib-boom and dolphin striker 2"
| j had to admit that these techni-
calities were a little obscure to my
mind.
Well, then, I'll tell you. That spar
that sticks out ahead of the bowsprit
on regularly constituted Christian
ship, that's the jib-boom, and the dol
phin striker is the other spar that
comes down underneath, pointing to
the water line, as if it would strike
any stray dolphin that might rise on
! top of a wave under the ships bow.
You see yonder up-to-date gunboat of
| Uncle Sam, with her nose going up and
down out Of the water like the corner
of a house. She hasn't any use for
| boWsprits and the like.
Nov, hold that the ld-fashioned
sloping sheer OF the cutwater belonged
to the old-fashioned Yankee clipper,
and if we have to get about by steam
these days, we ought to hold to that
and the rest that goes with it, out of
respect to our fathers. But what
was going to tell you, it seems to me
that the blessing of Providence goes
with a clipper bow and regular dol
phin striker. l could give you in
stances. Yes, and then you youngsters
would go off and smoker behind my
back, and say your Uncle Ephraim had
some tough yarns in his locker, I have
no doubt.
"You want just one for a sample,
Ell? Well, I'll risk it.
I've got to go away back to times
before l was born. 1t didn't happen
to re, this thing, but the man it did
happen to, knew him very well, and
he told me more than once-aye, more
than a half dozen times. He was a
| lad along about the year 1910, and he
wasn't born on this side of the Allan
tic, like you and me, but the other
side, at place called Lowestoft, which
is on the English coast. That was why
he got into those difficulties which I'm
going to tell you about.
He ran away from his home over
there-I don't know why-and ne ship
ped before the mast of whaler that
came out of Nantucket, down there on
the Massachusetts, coast-a regular
when his ship was under full sail
somewhere in the southern seas, below
the line, on her way to the southern
whaling grounds, there came another
tall ship in sight, and she flew the
British blue ensign, which showed
that she belonged to the blue squadron
of King Georges navy. The British
used to have three squadrons in those
days, and they called them the red, the
white and the blue.
so this Britisher hailed the Yankee
ship and ran close along to wind
ward of her, taking her wind, OF
course But the Yankee skipper, he
held on, just hosting the stars and
stripes-th1rteen stars and thirteen
stripes only in those days and, dipping
in civil manner to show that he knew
what was what. Then the Britisher
having two long rows of guns pointing
out Of his broadsides, being frigate
fired a shot across the bow Of the Yam
kee whaler. That meant TO say that
the Britisher wanted to talk on par
ticular business to the American ship
and the American, not being armed, OF
course had to bring to and wait his
lordship's orders.
Say, dare say some of you young
fellows don't quite see nowadays what
made US Yankee boys so darned keen
in that war Of 1912. If you'd been
aboard and muster your crew to see If
you had any of King Georges natural
born subjects sailing with you, just be-
cause he happened to be short-handed,