The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-11-09
Tic Eals: and lp,ellieencer
:: BEL AIR, MD. NOVEMBER 9 1900.
OIL WE'LL IN THE SEA
A CURIOUS SPOT OFF THE LOWER
CALIFORNIA COAST.

An Old Seaman's story OF HOW ~
Once Saved a Yacht That Was Run
ming to Almost Certain Destruc-
s1on In a HowlinE Storm.
"No, I've never seen a sea serpent. but
I've seen things more curious" said an
old sea captain.
"What was the curiousest thing ever
see? Well, that's hard to say, but there's
The cruise l made from San Diego to
Monterey with the yacht Foam-Pll new
er forget it, though it was years ago.
81 was in San Diego at the time, wait
ing for job, when a man came to me and
asked if would take a yacht up to Mon
terey, deliver her there, and take 20 men
who wanted o. go up.
"I said | Wbuld, the terms being good,
and found | could charge the laborers
decent price and make something out
of it; so off we started one bright morn
ing.
THE laborers were railroad men, going
up to work on a new read, and the sec
ond day out were all so sick that they
swore they would run the yacht inshore
anything TO get out of 1t.
Il finally put in at San Pedro and let
those go that wanted to and put out
again with about six.
left matters in the hands of my mate,
whom l had shipped for the purpose-a
bright Norwegian.
I'VE reached Ventura the second day,
and then it began to blow and increased.
but we kept at it, passed Anacapa, and
right in the Santa Barbara channel
caught it for all it was worth. 1t blew
50 that we got all sail off the schooner,
but enough to keep her to the wind, and
the mcn-the landlubbers-were beside
themselves with fear.
"All this seemed to set the mate crazy,
and he drove them to the ropes and made
every man stand and take it. l felt that
there was no danger, but the wind sud-
denly picked up and blew inshore, and
the sea rose so that l finally made up my
mind that the yacht couldn't stand 1t.
She took 30 many seas that she nearly
turned over.
~ had a talk with the mate, who said
he could put US In smooth water In half
hour, only he was afraid she'd swamp If
he put her before it. l told him I'd take
the chance. Then he shouted, Rig on
the extra hawser to the chain below!
II saw that 1t was done, and then we
gradually got before the wind.
at was awful. and thought we'd 60
down u dozen times, but she seemed to
get over it, yet we headed directly in
mate in the rigging giving directions to
me Mt the wheel
''iir,!d2nly re cried: 'Luff. Bring her
up" And ZIP size came into the wind,
and if it hadn't been that my man was
dashed to the rigging we'd have all gone,
as 4 big green wave swept clean over
three feet deep.
"The moment she got head to the sea
he let go the anchor. The Lord knows
how deep it was. Out went the chain.
then the hawscr, and we began to drift
astern, beaten back by the sea and wind.
Il began to think we'd have to cut
away when what was next to miracle
happened. The sea went down like mag
ic. We were still in heavy sea, but the
surface for 100 feet about us was as
smooth as glass. and there we lay as
comfortable and dry as you please, while
on each side were terrific waves.
"Well," said the old captain, pausihg a
moment ut the recollection, lit scared the
men half to death. They all thought
there was something unCanny about it,
but finally, when everything had been
made snug. the mate came down below,
laughing over what he called his snug
harbor out to sea.
"'We're all right If the anchor holds
he said, and it's pretty sure to, as it's
rocky bottom
"'I've known this for a long time he
continued. You see, this is a great oil
country, and right here, two miles off
shore, is au oil spring that would be
fortune to some one ashore. 1t is prob
ably a fresh water stream that rushes
upward, bringing oil with it, which
spreads out over the surface, at times
covering 400 or 500 feet. OF course, the
oil keeps the sea down-simple enough
when you know it,
"And so it was" said the skipper.
1--WE visited the pince several times, and
some days you saw the water rising up so
hard that the surface looked higher than
the rest, and the oil would cover the wa
ter for 200 or 800 feet around, changing
| with the days and seasons seemingly,
sometimes being very small, again large,
but always making perfectly smooth
spot in which boat could lie in a storm,
II she could be kept in it.
ITS about two miles offshore, MS near
as l can judge, and on line with the
Santa Barbara point north of the city
and San Miguel island All this country
is underlaid with oil and asphaltum, and
they are boring wells as far out into the
water as they can get.
I'VE lay in that floating oil patch all
night: then the wind let up and we got
sail on her and went on"
Old sailors on the Atlantic, especially
those on the south coast east of Florida,
know similar spring that has often sur
prised seamen.
1t is told that smack which had sailed
from Mystic, Conn, for Florida had been
beaten back by the heavy winds so long
| that the water casks gave out and they
were in bad shape. But one day the
skipper ran inshore about n mile or two
from the reef. and, lowering a keg into
a small boat rowed to n spot in the open
ocean, which he had found by certain
points on shore. and told the men to fill
| the key. They thought the old man was
daft. but when they saw him drink some
OF the water. dipping it out of the ocean.
they tried It themselves and found that
! It WAS pure fresh water.
The captain explained that it was a
npHng which came up so violently that
| It forced the salt water away, leaving a
volume of fresh water which could be
used by those who wished it and knew
| where it was.-Philadelphia F.ess.