The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-08-09
A STORY OF WEBSTER
HE WANTED SOME MARINE NFcRMA-
TON, AND HE GOT IT.
The Great Daniel Posed the skipper
Of n Boston Schooner ms an Expert
witness and One Of the Abicst Sen
Captnins ont OF That Port.


Captains Out of That Fort.
Old Boston schoolboys OF n couple or
generations ago realize that no greater
change has taken place In Boston than
| on the wharfs, which in 1910 were oil
open, with no sheds built on them as
| at the present time. Vessels In the
| East india trade were dockcd Mt India
| wharf. w. T.. Weld & Co. had their
| shlps docked Mt Central wharf, Lom
bards and IIcmcnway & Co.'S ships
were at Commercial wharf. Long
wharf was lined with vessels In the
coastlng trade. They had large canvas
signs attached to the yards stating the
port hailed from and the port they
wanted freight for.
At that time there were no steam
ships. and all transportation was done
by sailing craft For Instance. sign
| would read "Thc schooner Eagle, Cap
tain Smith, will sail on Saturday for
Bath, Gardiner and Hallowell" The
wharfs were favorlte resort with
the boys wednesday and Saturday
afternoons. At that time school kept
Wednesday and Saturday mornings,
and we had the afternoons for vaca-
tlon. In the morning, after school, we
would decide where we would spend
the afternoon. and 1t was generally
on the whnrfs. Five out OF ten boys
went to sea after leaving school.
At the head OF Long wharf, where
the State street block now stands, was
an old hulk of n vessel with a house
| Ia. xx,as fn az tn
the dock, and this was used by the
bingham Bucket company for store
house. On the side of the house was
n sign, "Hingham Station Packet" 1t
J was n standing joke with us to ask the
man who had charge Of 1t II he was
the captain and when he was going to
sail, as we wanted to ship before the
mast
1t was favorite amusement with
the boys to climb up the rigging Of
ships and stump" one another as to
who would climb the highest There
was one of these boys who could beat
us all IN climbing. We nicknamed
him "Monkcy Jack" On one OF the
ships the downhaul Of the signal hal
yards broke short up to the flag at the
, truck. The captain. pointing to the
flag. said. 81 will give any boy that
, will bring that flag on deck nine
pence" We all started up the shrouds,
but Monkey Jack" was up to the roy
als before we got to the yardarm.
When he left school, he went to sea
and became master Of one of the lar
r gest clipper ships that sailed out of
, Boston.
Captain Mahan Of Long wharf had q
fine schooner yacht in which he took
parties down the harbor. He often in
vited the boys to take n sail with him
I remember once he told us a story
, about Daniel Webster, as follows
). About o'clock in the morning l was
: on deck putting the boat in shipshape
9 order and swabbing up the deck.
= was going to take party down sailing
2 that day 1t was raining quite hard
= There was an old fellow standing ~
:, the wharf with an old cloak and slouch
ed hat on under a large cotton UNI
brella. He hailed me, asked IL l was
s the captain and said he would like tC
t come aboard. supposed he was some
n old farmer from the country who haC
II never seen salt water before, so said
I Certainly. Come right aboard He
looked over the boat spell and after
:, awhile came up to where l was anC
y said, Captain, II you were sailing {
/ ship down the harbor and another shiI
!" was coming up and the wind wa!
l. northeast, which side would you sal
o of the ship that you were going t.
| I ha hnl ~
hard to port and 60 to the windward.
Is He seemed to understand and asked
4 me great many questions. ! though
p, he was taking up good deal Of m!
time and answered him rather short
He thanked me for the Information
~ had given him and bade me goodby.
u 81 had forgotten all about the OLE
u country man, when one day, about
es fortnight afterward. constable cam
D. aboard and asked to see Captain Ma
70 han, stating that l must appear II
f. court the next day at 10 o'clock as
9 witness. could not think for the lif
40 of me Of any case in court that knew
anything about. You can judge m
" surprise when ! saw Daniel Webste
lie and recognized him as my old frien
)n that asked so many questions. III
Of was laying down the law to the cour
49, In great shape, using all the nautica
e. terms in Bowditch's Navigator, an
Is. to hear him talk, boys, you'd though
co he'd been to sea all his life.
~ 1T appeared that there had been
=, collision in the harbor, and the owner
"a. were settling which ship was to blam
vi In court Webster was counsel for on
be OF the merchants. lie introduced IN
w to the court as Captain Mshan, one G
IN the ablest sea captains that sailed OF
le- Of Boston. Well, boys, you better b'
he lleve that turned red as lobster, a
pe was only skipper Of schooner.
oS answered all the questions Mr.. Wei
,oo ster asked me in regard to sailing
'o ship under certain circumstances"
Oh One Of the boys said, well, captain