The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-16
THE GRUDGE Of THE SEA.
Why Somo Vessels and Sailors Are
Lucky and Some Unlucky.

Lucky anu some
From the New York Commercial Adver-
User.
The last time that Teller came VI"
said the wrecker, as we leaned over the
bulwark of the stone sloop watching the
blurred form of the diver slowly descend
ing through the still water-"well, guess
what ne brought with him"
1T was a quart bottle OF champagne.
He said he found 1t rolling gently back
and forth in the hollow of a piece of bent
plate that had roasted on top of the
ledge where the vessel broke up. And
what made him mad the corkscrew lay
right alongside of the bottle. OF course.
you see, he couldn't drink 1t down there,
50 he had to bring 1t up and divvy with
the rest of the gang Had some myself.
though as rule I'm temperate man.
The sloop was pitching slightly in the
barely perceptible ground swell that roll
ed in from the far, open horizon to the
eastward A great calm lay on the sea.
The sunshine was warm for that early
spring day, and it shone full on the back
of the wrecker as he watched the contin-
uous line of air bubbles rising up 90 the
surface from the divers breathing. The
wrecker was a heavily built man. with
=
an unconscious, childike look in his eyes.
which looked out above black growth
of beard His mind might wonder at
many things which crossed his path on
the sea, yet it could scarcely be said
that he req soned. Perhaps now the first
warm sunshine of the year brought on
the mood of wondering.
It's very strange" he remarked, yet
| it's always the same"
hot tu1
Now, what made the water drop that
corkscrew alongside of that bottle of
| champa gne? Think of the hullabaloo of
that wrecked vessel. She was bust and
| had sunk in fifteen minutes, so the papers
said. Yet the bottle didn't bust and the
! corkscrew settled close to it on that bent
| plate on the reef.
1T always seems to me that the sea
| does things on purpose. Now, some yes
sells are known to be lucky and some are
known to be unlucky. But the truth is If
| the sea gets a grudge against a vessel 1t
| will keep nagging at her till 1t drives her
| into fix and then that vessel is going
TO break. II the sea likes a vessel that
vessel can get herself into all kinds of a
nuddle and she'll pull out all right. Much
| the same with men, Some the will
take care of; some it won't. l guess IL
hasn't got a grudge against me. Other
| wise 1 wouldn't have lived so long"
The wrecker turned his head slightly to
| look at the faint outline of a thunder
head which was growing in the western
sky above the land. Then again he leaned
over the bulwark watching the bubbles
| that were rising from the diver.
| why, l remember one time" he con-
tinued. II was nothing but a youngster
then, in a light-draft schooner. sailing to
! tie eastward. We were running before
terrific gale of wind, trying to make a
narrow opeing in the breakwater to get
inside. Wen, you can guess what weather
| 1t was when 1 tell you the seas were GO
| ing clean over that breakwater. And when
we came to within half a mile of the
wall-going like blazes. mind you, with
out rag on her we found we couldnt
! hold up enough to make that opening
| There we were driving right down onto a
| stone wall. 1t looked like good-by to the
| whole lot of us. But we couldn't do any
thing; she wouldn't hold up for that
| opening.
Then. by Jove! along came a whopping
wave behind us. The captain saw It, but
there wasn't any use to worry then-we
were going to get smashed to pieces any
way. You could feel that wave lift US up
as IL we were going up In an elevator.
| Right ahead was the wall-amost under
our forefoot-when-would you believe 1t?
the giant wave carried the schooner clear
over? Might have scratched some shay
| ings off her keel; but don't believe she
did. Still she was a light-draught schoo-
ner, remember.
Now, that was one OF your lucky YES
sells. ! knew then that the sea had no
grudge against me. Luck like that has
| followed me all along because, later on,
| in a northeaster, off the banks fishing we
parted our drag cable and swung off
| broadstde. over she went like shot;
| 49,.
| off. Then she turned bottom up, and the
next wave struck the keel sticking up In
the air, and threw her clear around on her
| bottom again
We knew she had turned all the way
| over, because when we got on deck after
the gale we found the rigging wound
around her, underneath, and there was a
mark on the galley ceiling where the
stove had lept up and struck II.
But this craft that got stranded here
or rather what's left of her down there,
where the diver is rummaging about for
| the pieceS-she was unlucky. She was a
| government boat in the Coast Survey De-
partment. tending to the making of charts
and hunting out of reefs that had been
overlooked. Strange enough, this reef un-
derneath us was never on any chart-had
never been found The sea must have had
an unusual grudge against that survey
boat TO drive her right onto one OF her
own blunders: and grudge against her
| captain, too-must have. CLAD she never
had one against me-, he added, in a low
voice. TO himself, nodding his head slowly.
From behind US came the rhythmic
blanks OF the air pump. where fresh air
was being forced down to the diver. who
could be dimly seen poking around lazily
among the kelpweed on the reef.
Never against the" he continued But
| I'm wondering how II happened that the
water put that corkscrew alongside that
bottle. DO you know. when the diver
told me how he found thcm-well I
haven't drunk much OF anything these
past fve years. yet couldn't help think
ing al the time that ought 20 take some
Of that champagne Seemed II I didn't
/ would offend some one"