The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-08-23
SAILORS AND SHARKS.
How the Men Keep the Man Eaters
Mt N Respectful Distance.

How the Men Keep the Man Eaters
nt n Respectful Diatnnce.
1.-TWO facts that may seen some
what peculiar to shore folks" said an
cN-sailor OF the navy. "arc. first, that
only about one-half OF the memo
wars men In our service or in any 9th
er service, in fact know how to swim.
and. second. that sharks are the most
cowardly OF all living creatures. 1t IS
odd that SO large Il proportion of the
naval sailors don't know how to swim.
but 1t Is probably due To the fact thar
great number OF our men. wars
men nowadays come from the interior
or the country, where there Is no WA
ter Tor them to learn l.ow ~ swim.
in the old navy-nnd put all OF INV
service in the old navy, so called the
man who couldn't swim was. as soon
as tho fact was discovered hy his shin.
mates. incontincntly chucked over tho
side when swimming call went. and
lie just had to swim. or course the
men wouldn't let Il fellow who didn't
know how to swim drown before their
eyes. but they would sec to It TINT he
made hard stab ut the art OF swim
ming before they picked him up. II he
didn't succeed in swimming the first
time, overheard lie would go the very
next lime all hands took Il plunge over
the side nt swimming call. and thus all
or the men serving on the old limo of
packets became swimmers before they
left the service. 1t is forbidden To
throw nonswimmcr into the water
now. hut think it would br Il good
thing il the practice were still contin.
ucd
Ihc officers Of the ships today insist
upon the apprentice lads learning To
swim, but they let the nonswimlucrs
among the newly recruited landsmcn
20 along without learning. There have
been numerous drowning incidents in
our navy within recent years. owing
TO the inability Of men who were 9th
erwise excellent sailors In the easy art
of swimming.
'-As to the cOwartllncss of sharks.
that fact is we'll known among men
who have been much to sea in south
ern waters infested by man eaters.
The fierccst man eater that ever bullied
q poor little pilot into acting as a food
scout for him will get out of the sen
way in mighty big hurry IL swim
mer, noticing the sharks approach.
sets UP noisy splnshing. a shark is
In deadly Gcar Of any sort Of living
thing that splnsles in the water.
Down among the south sen islands
the natives never go In sen bathing
alone, but always in parties OF half Il
dozen or so, in order that they may
make the greatest hubbub in the wa
ter and thus scare the sharks away.
Once In awhile a too venturcsomc
swimmer among these natives foolish
ly detaches himself from his SWIM
ming party and momentarily forgets
to keep up his splashing. Then there
Is n sudden swish, and the man eater
comes mp behind him like fash and
gobbles him.
* know n naval officer who, down in
the harb0r Of Acapulco, Mexico, one
afternoon q few years ago stepped on
q sleeping man eater in shallow water
while bathing. The officer gave him
SELF UP for lost, but he made frantic
effort to wade In to the beach. He ex-
pected every minute to have both Of
his legs Topped Off by the sharks teeth.
In wnding In he, of course. made q lot
Of disturbance In the water, and this
is what saved him. When, to his own
surprise. he finally stopped up on the
beach and looked back for his shark,
he saw the man eaters fiji cleaving
the blue waters of the hay hundreds OF
feet away, bound outward. ."-Washing
tor Star