Evening journal., 1900-09-28
A LIVELY OLD SHARK
HE MADE RAPID TIME FROM MONTE
vlDEo TO PERNAMBUco.

Ell Souvenir of the Event.
"The speed attained by south Allan
tic sharks in their efforts to arrive at
desired points within the least possible
space Of time. said No. 1s. who used
to be in the navy and Is now clerk in
the navy department, addressing the
last meeting Of the Washington Liars
club, "has long been a subject Of scien-
tifc investigation, / don't know the
exact number of knots they have been
found to make within the space Of an
ordinary four hour watch, but If a
south Atlantic shark can't beat an alba
tross when 1t comes TO speed I'll eat my
bag and hammock and ditty box.
''Now, there are some sharks down in
the south Atlantic that don't like to
find themselves too near the equatorial
waters. and yet they want TO have plen-
ty Of room 10 prowl. They've got the
temperature Of water that suits them
best figured out to a nicely. and they
know that on the other side Of the equa-
toril line there's just as good water,
and water Of tho same degree Of tenn
perature as that In which they're fool
ing around when they get to thinking
ON this subject
'WsA. what DO they do when they
get 70 worrying over the cramped space
IN whAssh they find themselves ON one
side OF the Line or the otherf Why.
they just make dash across the line
Thaf's all They know that the equa.
torfu4 line Is trOcha Of water that's a
hemp Zoo hot for their constitutions and
thGttbey can't stand monheying around
in 10 water on that line too long, and
40 thcy just hop over II. llcketty cut. 80
fast that yOu can't see their Fms for
dnet
n remember once, when ] was on
tho old Ticonderoga. a thing happened
that gave us line on the speed OF
rhaTiz when they take it into their
heads TO got speedy. We got into the
port cf MOnfevideo one morning at 10
o,olpck. It was on a Monday. April 12
Montrvideo haTbor Is full Of sharks. and
The men forward got to fishing over the
siSie for them IN order to get their spines
70 uaahc walking sticks Of them One
huge man eater was landed after great
difficulty with the combined strength Of
the whole watch on deck. and he had to
be dubbed with Delaying pins and cap
stan bnrs for an hour before be gave up
and cashed In.
''Well, we cut him open. and. gentle
men, what do you suppose we found
inside Of himf Why, as fine gold
watch and chain as you ever saw in
your hfel Not an ordinary minute and
secpnd hand watch, but one Of those
uuE2EA thai 9iYs the date. the day Of
0fe fffA ths phases Of the moon and
tie wAolo thing. Well, sirs. you can
imagine our astonishment when we
sospped the case OF this watch open
and foand that it had stopped at exact
ly p M. April II. the day before we
got inhc Montavideo.
'"Rhe skipper OF our ship reported
this koet TO the tOwnspeople Of Monte
vidso when he went ashore, feeling con
fdent chat some prominent citizen Of
thst tgwp had inadvertently permitted
lhimsS6 to be made a meal Of by an
| epiouPsan shark. He naturally conclud-
ed that the victim must have boen a
pFesnihent citizen 10 pack such a swell
timepjece around with him. Nobody
was missing out Of the population of
Montoyideo, and the thing looked al
mighty mysterious
''Weli. we remained IN the harbor Of
Monteyideo for six weeks making re-
petra. md Ia that time the shark and
VI hcident was practically forgot
ten Wo were just upon the point oi
pti, ppt for northern waborS when
the eBfitish ship Cardiff. from Pernam-
bpco. Brazil. put into Montevideo. The
Cardif's mate was in command. and
he had queer story to tell of how the
command had fallen 10 him. 1t seems
that on April IL the skipper. returning
to the ship from Pernambuco in bis
long boat. had slipped in stepping on.
10 the float leading to the ships gang
way and fallen into the water Before
tHe boats crew had chance to pull
him back into the stern sheets there
was a swish and the skipper was being
packed off in the jaws Of a gigantic
shark
you'll remember that this happened
on the afternoon Of April H. Well
there wouldn't have been anything re
markable about this if the mate in com
mand Of the Cardiff hadn't happened L
mention that the skipper had "A vain
able watch on his person when the
shark got him. Our commanding oflicei
heard about this, and he looked mp th'
mate and asked him what kind of 1
watch il was The mate exactly de
scribed the watch that we had takel
out Of the sharks stomach in Monte
video on the morning Of April 10. an'
when our skipper showed il to him b.
instantly identified it,
"Now. all that anybody who doubt
this has got to do in order TO find on
how many thousand miles Pernambuc
is from Montevideo is 10 measure Ia
r scale on the atlas of South America
a That shark only hit the high places il
! jumping from Pernambuco to Monte
I rideo. and if there S any doubter of thi
- narration here present why. here's III