Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-25
ANCHOR.

Washington Star: There are dangers
to seamen about which landsmen never
think" said the captain of one of the Bal
timore fleet engaged in the Rio coffee
trade, to a little company at the Riggs.
You wouldn't consider the apparently
simple process of weighing an anchor a
risky one, yet there is a 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 4 compartment hardly big enough
to hold two persons comfortably, and mere
the anchor 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 a little ladder through an
aperture scarcely large enough for a fell
low to squeeze himself. 1t is so dark there
that you can't see your hand before your
face, and a lantern has to be taken along.
The odor at this time is bad enough, but
| when the chain begins to come in it be-
comes almost unbearaable. Some of the
hai'bors in the tropics, indeed most OF
them are filthy, and there is brought up
from their bottoms all sorts of disagree
able souvenirs of your visit. When l. was
first before the mast on more than one oc-
casipn l almost succumbed to the fright
full odor, and l have known finicky
young tars who actually had to leave the
shin because they could not perform this
part Of their duties without fainting.
But of the real danger. Each link has
: to lie carefully placed in its proper posi-
| ton as the chain comes SLOWLY IN, for
otherwise when it came to dropping an
| Choir again the whole side of the ship
might be torn out. Sometimes through
the carelessness of the men on deck the
windlass is allowed to slip and the chain
begins to run out at a great rate. Then
a fellow has to be quick, or he Will be
dragged up through the chute and his
| llfI crushed ont. 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 he knows
too we'll that a terrible death awaits him
if his clothing should become entangled in
| the chain at such a moment, Only a 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
cut. l had a pretty close call myself
once. Whit slowing away the chains
| accidentally kicked over the lantern and
the light was eXtinguisned. Of course, l
could not stop in my work to let those
above know what had happened, for the
misplacing of a single link, as 1 have
said, might result in disaster, and the
mate, unfortunately, was not then near
at hand. To ne alone in the darkness
| ard the horrible stencil was Far from
| pleasant, but of a sudden | heard a
| sound that flied me with terror-thc rat
! tie of the chain as it began to swiftly
| pay cut. Some one had blundered and
there I was in TIA black and lOathsome
hole, the victim Of the hlunder. |
| shrark bach pale and trembling, for It
| was only a few months before that a poor
devil had met the same fate that it SEEM
| ed 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 vaSary OF
i the motion it might ensnare me III it's
| tolls. The awful noise, the stencil, the
odor Of smoke, the sparks as the chain
| strained against the chute, all these had
| their effect upon me, and my mind be-
came a blank.&When the mate came for
me- with a lantern / had sWooned and
! fallen across the compartment where the
chain had run It's coursa before l tainted,
else I should have been ground to
1 .A--~