The evening times., 1899-02-10
New York Cotton Market.
PARSONS AT SEA.
The Feelings of Shippers at Having
Clerical Passengers.
(From the Church Gaze

I have observed that merchant shippers,
almost without exception, have great dis-
like to having parsons aboard. Navy men,
owing to their respect for the Queen S reg
ulations do not care TO talk on the sup-
iect. The commanders of big liners are
also rather shy about discussing the sub
iect once wished one pleasant voyage
Pleasant VOYAGE" he retorted savageiy
That's likely. amt it, when there's three
parsons shipped, and one of them olsh-
OBJ" Here his feelings became too much
for him. and he called TO the steward 10
refill the glasses. / was not surprised 10
hear that a cylinder cover blew on in the
bay. Sitting in my club one night, skip
per came in | shook him by the hand and
hoped he had had a good voyage. Noy-
age!' he replied, in heartrending tones.
Don't call 1t that. I've never had such
dogs time in my life. Got two parsons
aboard at Sydney and another at King
Georges Sound, and, blame me, If TWO
missionaries did not join at Colombo!
Sooner than sail with five parsons again,
I'll break an arm or a leg and get put
ashore"
But to see the prejudice il all its glory
one must talk to the masters of ocean
tramps. | have known OF one case in
which a skipper feigned serious illness
sooner than take command when he found
that five missionaries were booked as pas
sengers 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 10 me as
showing great presence OF mind and sea-
manship on the part of the skipper. The
ship had a couple of parsons aboard, and,
as the crew expected, the voyage was dis
astrous. 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. l remarked that the
parson ought to have been under matches.
"Ah." replied the old sea-dog who tod
me, "Cap'n S. is a 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 10
| have been prepared, while it warn't in
| reason that the whole crew should be-
/ have noticed that it was among the
| officers of boats trading to the West Afri-
can coast that the prejudice against par
sonic passengers is strongest. was on a
| ship down this coast and one night, when
chatting with the skipper, he said that his
vessel had never had serious mishap.
| This is how he accounted for it. The
| shin is q beauty" he said, and as soon
as she was launched I foresaw the neces-
| sty of her getting bad name among par
| sons and such like. AS luck would have
| it. on her first voyage a missionary shipped.
| All the other passengers left at the Ca
| naries. OF course, We had bad weather
and he had a bad voyage. ] mentioned
| it to the chief officer and he tipped wink
| to the steward, who, fancy, said a word
| to the cook. When we put him ashore he
| was as thin as herring and he made a
| lot of complaints and threatened to write
| to the owners All said was that / hoped
he would do his duty to the poor heathen
| as we'll as 1 had done mine TO my owners
But he talked ashore and he wrote to his
society. and my ships beer avoided like
the plague by parsons ever since, and that's
how 1t is / have been SO lucky
On the return voyage, however. as il
happened, at one port he had to take