Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-06-27

of to Enrth-How the Stowawnys
Get Aboard Ship and Eow They
Generally Come TO Grief.
Down by the city's sea wall queer
man pursues a queer vocation. He Is
water front character" and his bust
ness is the sleuthing of stowaways.
Yle doesn't run his prey to earth,
however, after the manner of other
hunters of human game. He runs ii to
water
This weather hardened, wrinkled man
is at once the terror and the friend of
would be stowaways. He is known as
CAPTAIN Jack, but his name has half
dozen variations, all Of which smack of
the salt. salt sea- These are some of
his aliases: Wharf Rat Water Fowl,
Sea Dog, Whaler, Old Man Jack and
The Boatman.
His stock In trade consists Of his
shrewdness IN sporting stow and
battered but seaworthy old boat which
rides the water by night and day
through successive seasons. The towns
attractions do not lure him from his
long accustomed haunts among the
masts, hgureheads, piers and piles,
sails, nets, stringers and multitudinous
varieties Of merchandise that crowd
the bays edge.
Captain Jack came out Of his sea-
shell Of reserve long enough the other
day to tell q bit of what he knows
about that venturesome creature OF
chance, the stowaway, who would
fam voyage out Of port without the
previous Formally OF paying for pas
senger privileges.
"I've been In this business long
time" he said, IAN 1 can centrally
spot STOW
Different ones has different meth
DDS. Some hangs round the docks
afore ship sails, offerin to lend a
hand, or proposin to work q passage
somewheres. When they find this
don't go the way they want 1t to. they
commence to talk big-inQuire bout
sea weather, the cost Of q cruise, the
time 1t takes to git to the islands or
Alaska or Panama. They're always
just a-goin to make the trip. But
there's somethin so hungry an home
sick an tired lookin about 'em that 1t
gives 'em dead away-leastways 1t
does to q person who's spent a good
many years studyin their kind.
"Others, though. wait till the last
minute, then come hustlin along as If
they was too rushed to buy ticket
or as If they had one In their pocket.
Why, I've even been asked by 'em to
row 'em out to ship after she'd got
clear out into the stream. If skipper
happens to be good natured. he'll slack
I'D an take passengers aboard. An
after all that bother I've had to bring
'em back again, for nary red did they
have.
'eThis class OF deadheads is Centrally
supplied with clothes, gripsacks, hat
boxes, steamer trunks, canes, umbrel-
las, cameras, foldin chairs an some
times a servant"
mot 8 valet|
~Sure. That's what we sailors call
putin on q terrible lot Of dog. Them's
the feilers that always has friends
'nong guvpors. rajahs, lords, dukes
On consuls, an likewise money to burn
-bnS always across the water some
where's. I don't mind the men, but
hate to tackle q woman"
"Women stowaways?"
s.Sure. When the Klondike boom
was on, I used to bring in as many
women as men. Some was only
girls-nttle slim things, goin to the
icy gold mines with no more outfit
than the thin clothes they stood in.
'"The easiest part Of the slows plan
in maxim an escapeis the gittin aboard.
Nobody knows who's who the day
q ships leavin port. If she's crowded
80 much the better. The stow can
hide In the hold without bein spied.
But it's mighty hard to git past the
Heads, for by that time the ships
been searched an the slows yanked out
on deck"
Captain Jack spoke truly. The
gtowaway who passes the Heads has
run the gantlet safely-unless an in
coming vessel be at hand to convey
the intruder back again.
When the final gong has been sound
ed, the warning "An visitors ashore"
given, the gangplapk withdrawn,
the last rope loosened and the screw
turned, the vessels interior is care
fully explored. Meanwhile Captain
Jacks weather beaten boat Is speed
lfso In its wake. If stowaway be
discovered a signal is sent from the
pilots bridge and Captain Jack Is
quickly alongside. A rope ladder is
lowered. and toward it the purser or
other officer and bis aids escort the
discounted ''stow."
"Every day." continued Jack, 81
fetch In men an women that want to
git away. They're broke, an thought
they'd try their luck In some other
place. 1 lump most Of 'em off at
Meiggs' wharf. It's heap easier for
me an for the slows. There's more
lumber there an fewer folks to stare.
Some Of 'em turns out ali right, an
some Is afterward fished out OF the
bay. Then they go to the coroner.
A dead man. it seems, Is worth more
to the city than live one"
And thus 1t is that the stowaways
sooner or later all journey with Cap
lain Jack-some to begin life all over