The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-24
RUDDER FISH'S VOCALlSM.
A RiTAL FOUND TO CAPTAIN DAVE"
SINGING SEA ROBIN
IL Came Up the Coast From Florida on ."o
Schooner Rocking Henrse anu W."
n Valued Addition to the Singers OF the
cra,t KIN. Fleet-Its DiacOvery.

Schooner Rocking Hearse" and was
IL Valued Addition to the Singers Oh the
Great Kills Fleet-Its Discovery
you can laugh all you wanter at the singing
Sea Robin In Capt Dawes ccnterboard BUNK
said the captain Of the Saucy Miggs, oil the uroa'
Kills fleet on Staten Island "but it's all righ
and no dream And it's not the nrst singing
Ash we've had around the harbor either Never
heard OF tho rudder fish, did you? Well, It's all
right; ask Capt Jose Seguine about IT. He had
one round the sloop when she lay of the shoe
which kept the men from sleeping nights
"rhe best specimen ever in these waters came
up from Florida with strange looking craft
called the Rocking IIearse according to the Irish
pronunciation She was built with stem and
stern like Chicago corned beef tub straight
fiat Sides with the stern cut sharp off, slopinE
upwards at an angle OF forty Ave degrees with
the rudder hanging through like a tin sign. The
stem would have been about the same, but ~
had what the Irish German. called Ryan (he
spelled il Rhein' for pcrverseness), called box
head This was an invention of his own TO pro-
vent a fatbottom boat from pounding. and II
increased the draught at the cutwater by about ten
inches on thirty foot boat Rhein was genius
in his way. He built boat once that was so
marvellous that when you went about in her sho
spun round twice before she settled on the other
tack She was the quickest in stays ever saw.
The first time Gus Mercereau saw her do II he
fell overheard, thinking he wasn't we'll The
village lost a great crank in Rhein, peace be TO
him.
Well. about that schooner. She was the real
thing; good, safe boat; might have been built in
Philadelphia; took two months to come from Flor
ida to the Kills. never took a step without look
ing TO see where she put her forefoot; that's tho
kind she and pitch OH the boards Of Dan
Burbanks oysters! Well. she came in and lny
around here quite some time 1t was said she
cost $1,000 but the man who paid SO 900 for her
was badly stuck and were all treated 10 real,
whole cloth yachting anchorage etiquette. tell
you we learned something that summer. When
the tender went of it como aboard on tho
STAFFORD lee and salute the officer of the deck;
II was owner aboard and such. The assortment
of jerseys and caps with fouled anchors en-
which went up to the depot holidays some
thing TO be remembered. The only thing that
ever surpassed her soop year or two ago.
which at shutdown the man in charge used TO
stand watching the glorious orb Of day. as Tom
Williams calls IL and then firing 22-cnibrc re-
volver for a sunset gun he would rush astern and
yank down the twelve by ten Stars and Stripes
boldly fiuttering from its iackstaf.
We'll now about this Rudder Fish Bless you.
every sailorman from Biscayan Bay knows OF it
IL Is a fish like well, | won't say what looks
like a fish called the Sea Toad has that same
whiskerless, mournful expression. as II It had
lost its father.in-law fish 60 by opposites in
their domestic relations, you know. It is kinder
speckled and botchy-like, and as the moon rises
you can SEQ II sitting around the rudder, jumping
off and diving between the armatures and sing
ing for all it's worth. We were coming home
one night, after hard day fishing, and heard il
working on Down, Derry Down. and Billy says:
| What in thunder is THAR Big Joe Gillis said:
| It's a drunken Mick in swimming. Look out
| for him.. and Just then passed the quarter OF
Al
| Capt. Tom says It's Rudder Fish, an acan-
thopterygous fish Of several species OF the genus
Perco, having toothed edges TO the poserior -
| but before he could say scales 1t worked of q
variation on the Yale college cry, and commenced:
We'll rant and Wen roar like true British sailors
Wen steer and well tack
p .af rhsnRs 20 g 3S
"My heavens said Capt Tom. its the spook
OF Admiral Drake come to welcome Dewey Give
mo the soap net and that empty milk bottle We
spliced the mainbraoe with a minute ago, and I'll
scoop him. There's fortune in his voice
Sounds to me like tissue paper over a small
| tooth comb, said Billy. My boy can beat him
| at it.
Meanwhile the Rudder Fish was chug-chugging
| like nightingale about to sing OF a panorama
grinding along TO the next view, and as the boat
edged off under the coming slack of the tide there
was visible a glistening six inches Of the upper
curve OF the rudder
ats a curious thing says Tom but it's ca
tarrh which produces that facility TO sing.
| throat disease
Ibid It liver thry wskey" asked Billy, but Tom
proceeded. I've found il in the weakfsh of the
jersey coast Gus here, remembers how they
gasped coming into the boat the day we caught
nineteen by quitting the bottom fishing and float
ing for EN-, and the Rudder Fish piped:
my home is on the cellar floor,
Upon cask I'm seated"
"oh. the shameless liar, whispered Big Joe,
sure II would take week to pump the water
out his cellar Say. Finny, me boy. he called,
leaning towards the fish, where do you hail from,
what's your name, how many men do you carry7'
and the fish sliding off the armature sang:
ooh, am the cook and the captain bold
And the bos'n tight and the midshipmte,
And the crew OF the captains gig"
This was more than Capt. Tom could stand
and ho made a scoop at II, A voice overhead
| said. What are you doing under the quarter,
Sheer of or III sink you, and, perforce tho boat
| sheered of. Billy whispered It's in the scap
net. Tom. but you let IL CO. and looking back
there was the soap net floating In the moonlight
with something moving in II. Making do
tour 10 avoid another hail from the schooner,
| they picked It UP, and il was brought in board
something dark and glistening cylindrical in
FORM with obtuse terminals was seen. II euded
the fingers, turning up with wide cavernous
mouth. perfectly circular and apparently tho
exact size of It's body II had a thick rounded
lip II turned half round and then sank with q
| downward zig gag motion. and there rose tho
refrain:
III yo' amt got no money,
Yo' needn't come around"
well, II that don't beat hell said Gus Did
you see the water run up through It and flow
over the mouth? Great snakes but that s a
queer thing to run up against after forty years
round the beach
Capt, Tom shook his head and said: TtG
funny graft, that's what II is. or something
that sounded like that Next night was coming
down Hillside and heard the blamed
Rudder Fish carolling in Capt. Fontaine's house.
corner OF Monroe avenue Dead sure of ~
OF course, and Capt Tom says with that leery