The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
PARSONS AS JONAHs.
Many Shippers Opposed to Ministers
Their ships.

Writer in the Church Gazette.
/ have observed that merchant shippers,
almost without exception, have a great ms
like to having parsons aboard. once
wished one a pleasant voyage. pleasant
voyageu he retorted savagely That's like
". amt it, when there's three a parsons ol
shipped, and one of them a bishop here
his feelings became too much for him and
he called to the steward to refill the glasses
l was not surprised to hear that cynnder
cover blew off in the bay
Sitting in my club one night, skipper
came in. [ shook him by the hand and
hoped he had had a good voyage. .'Noy-
don't call it that. I've never mad such a
dogs time in my life. Got two parsons
at Sydney and another at King
fGeorges sound. and blame me If two mis-
sionaries did not join at Colombo! Sooner
than sail with five parsons again. III break
an arm or leg and get put ashore.
To see the prejudice in all its glory one
must talk to the masters of ocean tramps
l have known of one case in which skip
command when he found that five mission
aries were booked as passengers, and two
of them ladies'. As it happened, the ship had
a particularly bad voyage and the unlucky
missionaries had more than one very near
squeak for their lives.
once a case was quoted to me as showing
great presence of mind and seamanship on
the part of the skipper. The ship had a
couple of parsons aboard and, as the crew
expected the voyage was disastrous. The
misfortunes eliminated in the decks being
swept and three men washed overheard. one
was a parSOn who ought to have been below.
After this the weather suddenly abated and
the ship came safe to land. ! remarked that
the pareson ought to have been under
matches ''Ah!" replied the old sea dog who
told me, "Cap'n S. is good man. He talked
it over with the mates, and there seemed
nothing else to be done. So they got him up
on purpose. Better one man than a whole
company, and the parson ought TO have been
prepared while it warnt in reason that the
whole crew should be"
l was on a ship down the coast. and one
night, when chatting with the skipper. he
said his vessel had never had a serious mis-
hap. This is how he accounted for it: Tine
ship is a beauty" he said, "and as soon IS
she was launched / foresaw the necessity Of
her getting a bad name among parsons and
such like. As luck would have it, on her
first voyage missionary shipped. .All the
other passengers left at the Canaries. OF
course we had bad weather and he had a
bay voyage. | mentioned 1t to the chief
officer and he tipped a wink to the steward,
who, / fancy said a word to the cook. When
we put him ashore he was as thin as a her
ring, and he made a lot of complaints and
threatened to write TO the owners. All 1
said was that / hoped he would do his duty
TO the poor heather as we'll as / had done
mine TO my owners. But he talked ashore
and he wrote to his society, and my ship
been avoided like the plague by parsons ever
since, and that's how Ii is I've ben so lucky"
Shippers have told me that, danger apart,
interfere too much. One told me that the
wife Of one clerical gentleman insisted on
holding little religious conversations with