The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-18
A STORY OF WEBSTER
AE WANTED SOME MARINE lNFORMA-
TON, AND HE GOT 1T.

TION, AMI f1E 9Ot ~.
The Great Daniel Posed the Skipper
OF Boston Schooner ms an Expert
witness and One of the Ab1est Sen
Captains Out Of That Port.
Old Boston schoolboys of couple Of
ccnerations ago realize that no greater
.harcc has taken place in Boston than
an the wharfs, which In 1910 were all
oncn. with no sheds built on them Us
ot thc present time. Vessels In the
East India trade were docked ut India
wharf. w. T.. Weld &c Co. had their
Sims docked at Central wharf, Lom-
bard.s and Hemenway g. Co.'s ships
we're at Commercial wharf. Long
wharf was lined with vessels In the
coastIng trade. They had large canvas
signs attached to the yards stating the
mort hailed from and the port they
wanted freight for.
AT that time there were no steam
ships, and ali transportation was done
nv sailing craft. For instance, q sign
would read, "The schooner Eagle, Cap
tain Smith, will sail on Saturday for
Bath. Gardiner and Hallowell." The
wharfs were favorite resort with
the boys Wednesday and Saturday
afternoons. At that time school kept
wednesday and Saturday mornings,
and we had the afternoons for vaca.
tion. In the morning, after school, we
would decide where we would spend
the afternoon, and 1t was generally
on the wharfs. Five out OF ten boys
- con o@tor Yao co1,oo0
At the head Of Long wharf, where
the State street block HOW stands, was
nm old hulk Of vessel with house
built on its deck. It was fastened to
the dock, and this was used by the
bingham Bucket company for store
house. On the side OF the house was
a sign, "Hingham Station Packet" It
was standing joke with us to ask the
man who had charge Of it If he was
the captain and when he was going to
sail, as we wanted to ship before the
mast.
1t was q 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 Monkey 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, II will give any boy that
will bring that flag Oh deck n nine
pence" We all started up the shrouds.
but Monkey Jack" was up to the roy
ais before we got to the yardarm
When he left school, he went to sea
and became master OF one Of the lar-
gcst clipper ships that saiied out or
Boston.
Captain Mahan ef Lcng wharf had Il
fine schooner yacht in which he too,l
parties down the harbor. Hc often in
vitcd the boys to take sail with him.
I remember once he told us q story
about Daniel Webster, as follows:
"lAbout o'clock in the morning I was
on deck putting the boat in shipshape
order and swabbing up the deck. l
was going to take party down sailing
that day. 1t was raining quite hard.
There was an old fellow standing on
the wharf With al OLD cloak and sioucil-
ed hat on under a large cotton um-
brclla. He hailed me, asked If was
the captain and said he, would like to
come aboard. I supposed he was some
old farmer from the country who had
never seen salt water before. so said:
Certainly. Come right aboard he
looked over the boat a spell and nfter
awhile came up to where was and
said, Captain, If you were sailing a
ship down the harbor and another ship
was coming up and the wind was
northeast, which side would you sail
of the ship that you were going to
meet?' I said, Il would put the helm
hard to port and go to the windward.'
he seemed to understand and asked
me great many questions. I thought
he was taking up good deal OF my.
time and answered him rather short.
He thanked me for the information I
mad given him and bade me go0dby.
Il had forgotten all about the old
country man. when one day, about a
fortnight afterward, constable came
aboard and asked 60 see Captain Ma
han, stating that must appear in
court the next day at 10 o'clock as O
witness. could not think for the life
OF me CT any case In court that knew
anything about. You can Judge my
surprise when saw Daniel Webster
and recognized him as my, old friend
that asked SO many questions. He
was laying down the law to the court
IN great shape, using all the nautical
terms in Bowditch's Navigator, and
TO hear him talk, boys, you'd thought
he'd been 10 sea aIl mis- lsSe.
1T appeared that there haM been O
collision in the harbor, and the owners
were settling which chip was to blame
IN court. Webster was counsel for ono
OF the merchants. BE introduced me
to the court 40 Captain Mahan, one OK
The ablest sea captains that sailed out
OF Boston. Well, boys, you better be-
neve that ! turned red as lobster, as
was only skipper OF a schooner.
answered all the questions Mr. Web
ster asked me In regard to sailing
snip under certain clrcumstances.''
one Of the boys said, "Well, captain,
who beatT''
Why, Daniel Webster, OF courser'-