The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-06-21

The old adage that truth II strahBe
than fiction" has been many times VEN
fed to me in my travels, never, however
more remarkably or forcibly than in tn
experience which / am about TO narrate
Those of my readers who have ha'
the good fortune to pass the Straits o
Gibraltar during the day will have beer
impressed no doubt with the singular
grandeur and beauty Of this impenetrabl'
fortress, this bold promontory that rlse
abruptly out of the sea like some huge
defiant demon, facing both the Atlantic
and Mediterranean and forming las IN
deed it does a guardian, or rather goal
er of all that is beyond to the East
They will also no doubt have noticed
that sharp rocky projection to the ex
IRENE south which forms the narrowes1
part Of the straits, Europa Point light
house. Immediately back of Europa
Point, on the Algeciras side and not
over quarter Of mile from the Point
another rocky projection juts out into
the sea not unlike a huge pier Of mason.
ry forming one Of the most remarkable
land-locked harbors in the world. My
attention had been called to this harbor
once before on "A previous visit to Glbral-
tar, by the singular spectacle Of a huge
man-of war lying along side and moor
ed to the shore Tine English have a
large repair shop at this point, which
il the only place in Gibraltar where
large ships can land They also have
large marine supplies here and it is not
unusual to see dozen or more men-Of-
war at anchor within II radius of one
half mile from shore
desire also at this point Of my story
10 call attention TO the very remarkable
cur ents that are constantly flowing in
the straits, forming at their cOnverging
points, maelstroms Of no mean proper
tons | remember crossing the straits
from Gibraltar TO the African side to
4 htlElflNt III Dlif VI lllt NIffHN lllNf
packets that ply twice week between
the two points. The captain was an
Englishman but his crew n mixed one,
half Moore aud half Spanish, and to-
gether they formed about as heterogen-
eous mob ~ one would care TO behold.
The captain, however, was jolly tar
and fond of good glass of whislley, for
he called me into his stuffy little cabin
and treated me TO some very rare old
stuff that was not half bad He was
very proud of the distinction that Rich
ard Harding Davis had paid him some
months before in accepting the same
Of his cabin in glass of the
very same liquor he offered TO me and
out of the very same glass that is in
your hands now, sir. | believe Davis
the jolly captain in his "Rul-
ers Of the Mediterranean.
We had quite number Of ladies
aboard that day upon whom the captain
i'0li'I w IllN 'iif w iilN NV " lbh'Nf lbl
he winked at me quite merrily and said
in an undertone that we would have
some fun shortly, ard with that he turn
ed the helm about and in very few
we were tossing and rolling in
IA most alarming manner. You can
easily imagine the condition into which
our ladies were thrown. The jolly cap
tain had perpctrated one of his little
jokes He had taken us into a mael-
strom.
But to come back to my story The
reader may possibly remember two rath-
cr startling events that happened nine
years ago, | think in the fall of 81 and
the spring Of 80. The daily papers were
quite full Of them at the time. The
events have no relation To each other
further than they are both connected
with my story, The first event was the
great Chicago Diamond Robbery. Fifty
thousand dollars worth of diamonds
were stolen in broad daylight and the
robber escaped. II was one of the bold
cat and most daring robberies in the an
mails Of crime,
The second event which happened
some six months after was the wreck If
the Italian steamer Utopia in the Straits
Of Gibraltor, which was one of the sad
dest and most horrible catastrophies of
recent years passed the Straitshome-
ward bound few days after the sad ac-
cident, but did not learn the full particu
lars until after my return TO America
The Utopia was nm Italian steamer ont.
ward bound from Genoa 10 New York.
carrying "A full crew. few first class
passengers and some four or five hundred
Italian laborers, who were on their way
back to America for the summers work.
The steamer passed Europa Point about
eight o'clock on quiet but very dark
evening. After crossing the point, and
in full view Of the city lights, she had 70
pass close TO IL number Of English men.
of-war lying at anchor near shore.
When nearly uhraaat ~ uun ~ th.tn III.