The Afro-American advance. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1899-19??, 1900-07-21
much of the bark As they could. and

they went in body, the two Of them,
10 the managing owner to get him to
appoint one or the other master. Then
the managing owner told them he did
not have anything to do with il, since
he did not own anything in the bark.
When they came TO compare notes
they had spent a lot of mon. and
were no better off than before; in
fact, the advantage was entirely with
the managing owner,. who had got
good price for property that ii did
not pay#to run Cap'n Davis had fif-
teen thirty-seconds.. Gap'n Davies had
fifteen thirty-seconds also. and the re-
naming two thirty-seconds was owned
by the ships husband, a South street
ship chandler. He Played fair with
both shippers. He would sell half to
each if they wanted to buy him out
very badly. but he would not sell all
to one, and thus be party to giving
him control over the other captain S in
vestment.. suggested that they
take the Nellie b. turn and turn about,
and that's how it was that the bark had
two shippers.
The way they fixed ii up was that
when Cap'n Davies brought the Nellie
b. in from a voyage and had her dis
charged down to clean flo, he
should turn her over to Cap'n Davis to
charter and load and sail until he got
her down to a clean floor at the end
of the voyage. When Cap'n Davis had
her in charge Cap'n Davies was not to
go aboard, but he could come down
wanted-and that was a whole lot
| and vice versa. 1t was a caution to see
how each of these old shippers put the
bark into apple-pie order before they
came into harbor from voyage. The
paint and corlage bills, to say nothing
of white duck, must have been some
thing big, but the ships husband, who
was in that line of business, never let
on as between the two captains, so he
must have been making a good thing
out of his small interest in the Nellie
B. The two old gentlemen were great
rivals, and il was nip and tuck be-
tween them on every point connected
with the bark, and it would be hard
to say which was the more jealous OF
the other.
1t got so they never would speak ex-
cept when handing the bark over, and
then they were freezingly polite.
''Good-morning. Cap'n Davis" was
always the form that Cap'n Davies fol-
| lowed, "the Nellie b. is on a clean floor,
and l think you'll not find any thing the
matter with her.
THANK you, Cap'n Davies" was the
unfailing response. II suppose il
seems SO to you, but have brought a
broom with me; she'll not be the worse
| for good sweeping. / suppose you'll
enjoy the rest while I'm gone
well, / wish you prosperous lad
ing and quick voyage. You're get
ting old, man, and this will likely be
the last voyage you'll make in the
Nellie b., so make the most of IT."
Then they'd part, speeches. with
rage. Not content with sitting on the
pierhead day after day watching the
| loading of the bark and finding fault
with everything the other skipper did
Cap'n Davies thought he'd take look
at the bark in some foreign port; he
wanted to see whether Cap'n Davis
saved up all his repairs for the home
port. or whether he fixed the Nellie B.
up creditable- when she went foreign
The bark had been chartered for Mel.
bourne with clothespins and wooden
ware. That's a voyage that took her
all of hundred days, for she was q
dull sailor, and Cap'n Davies had plen.
| ty of time to get out to Melbourne by
steamer. There he waited for the bark
to be signalized from the Heads, and
when her number was made he took a
sailboat and hurried down Port Philip
to see how the Nellie b. was looking
when she came into port foreign.
Whether the bark looked better than
Cap'n Davies expected to find her, or
whether she looked worse, nobody
could say for certain. But that some.
thing serious was the matter anybody
could see, for the old skipper hardly
woke up to rip and tear more than
once or twice a day, and that was moth.
ing for him. The Nellie b. got char.
ter for London with wool. and lost no
time discharging. Cap'n Davies hung
about her all the time she was in Port
Philip. Soon after she sailed he Just
up and died. There wasn't much salts
faction in it for Cap'n Davis. for he
died, too, before he got around Cape
Horn, and he never knew that he was
sole captain at last.
Another scheme of the two shippers
went astray. Each of them, having
neither chick nor child, had willed his
share in the bark to the ships hus-
band, thus giving him the controlling
interest on the condition that he would
Gust the rival skipper and put in a
man of his own. But as both died at
the same time there was nobody 10
GUST. and the property came into the
hands of this ship chandler. He's sail
ing her still, as she cost him really less
than nothing, for what he had paid
in the beginning for his small piece
was repaid over and over in his dealings
with the rivalry Of the two slippers
Boston Budget
l
Hay Fever Union of HeIIEoIand.
49, T. L.