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 Annreciated

Some of the Ora " backs that Are Mt
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 Il 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 an
aperture scarcely large enough for Il
there that YOU can't see your hand before
your fuce, and Il lantern has to be taken
along. The Udur at this time is bad
enough but when the. chain begins to
COME Iii it becomes almost unbearable
Some IF the harburs III the tropics-in-
dreu, most, of them-are, filthy, and there
are brought up from their bottoms all
sorts Of disagreeublt souvenirs Of your
visit
But Of the real danger: Each link
has to BIZ carefully placed in it's
PROPER position as the chain comes slowly
III, for otherwise when it came to drop
ping ;lhcAor again the whole side of the
snip night be torn out. Sometimes,
through the carelessness of the men OF
deck, the windlass is allowed to slip, and
the chain begins to run out at 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 i'll contact
with the chute, and he presses as far
back as he can from the iron mass, for
he knows too well that a terrible death
awaits him if his clothing should become
entangled in the chain at such a moment.
Only few voyages since on my ship Il
man was caught in this way. The mate.
who was by his side, managed to rescue
along with the chain and had his life
squeezed out.
Il had pretty close call myself once.
While slowing away the chain l acct
dentally kicked over the lantern and the
light WIS extinguished. OF course, |
could not stop in my. work to let those
above know what had happened, for the
misplacing Of a single link, us l have
said, might result III disaster, and the
at hand. To, be alone in the darkness
and the 1horri bic stencil was far from
pleasant, but of d sudden heard a sound
that filled me with terror-the rattle of
the chain as, it begin to swiftly pay out.
som 4, had blundaer red and there was
victim Of the bliinder. 1 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, l 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 me in 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 eff
feet upon me, and my mind became Il
blank. When the mate came for me
with lantern had swooned and fallen
across the compartment where the chain
had lain fey moments before: The
cha chain hsd rrr It's course before tainted,
-Wash'l Lieu Star.