The Indianapolis journal., 1902-11-09
QUEER CABIN PASSENGER.
Yarn About a Shark Which Boarded
a ship and Went BeIOw.


Ship and Went BeIow.
Henry De We're Stacpoole, in London Mail.
We were broken down off the Island OF
Hero, steaming three knots an hour over
a sea the color of Reckitt's blue, when our
first officer, a portly man, whom L nave
never yet seen smile, came ana look MS
seat by me on the grating OF the main
hatch.
/ was tinkering at shark hook, which
hoped soon to use, and, as he hlled MS
apropos of the long time sharks are SAID 10
/ live out of water: Talking of that did
ever tell you of the shark We caught when
/ l was second in the old Grapnel?
"She was a cable ship. We were at 81
Helena, anchored close in, and the second
engineer got a hook like yours, baited IL
room, and began to fish for a huge shark
| that was hanging about our stern. You
know at st. Helena at certain times great
| rollers come in from the Atlantic, hlSn as
| that main yardarm, and without much
warning either. As it happened, the Gov
ernor OF st. Helena, or some big pot was
| coming TO dinner that day, and the table
| in the saloon set out with the best
glass, and pineapples, and bananas, ana
what-not, all in the way of dessert. Well,
| the shark was bit coy, but just as TOUR
/ bells were striking he gobbled the bait
| The old man was ashore, and we clean
| forgot about the Governor coming to din
| ner, forgot everything but the shark plung-
| ing and tugging at the line We pulled him
| up a bit, got a blight of rope around him,
rugged tackle, and began 10 hoist him In.
| A big shower fell were hosting, but,
| bless you, We didn't notice 1T, nor that the
sea was heaving, and the great rollers COM
| ing shoreward.
well, we had hoisted the brute ten feet
| or so clear of the water when the first roll
| er struck US, pointing our bow balks at the
| sky and swinging the shark out till his tail
| nearly touched the water, then, swash we
| went into the trough, pitching our propeller
| up TO the sky and swinging the shark in
| board. The blight of rope slipped, and
Chf he charlr tn fhn of for
| graungs; twenty-five foot he was, and as
| thick as a Pickford's van almost. Swish!
came the next roller and as we went into
| the trough the shark shot on to the deck,
| skidded along ii as if ne were on skates,
| carromed against the StarbOard buwarkS,
| and as the next roller took us on the star
board bow ii shot him head first down the
| saloon companion way clean out OF sight,
| and you wouldn't have known there was
shark on board only for the screams of the
second saloon steward, who was coming up
| with tray of cocktails just old dow
| hard was going down.
what happened then the chief steward
| told me. He said: i was standing by the
after cable tank. looking toward the saloon,
when l saw Jones, the second saloon stew
ard, shoot head over heels into the alley
| way, followed by tray of cocktails and a
| shark. / might have fancied had got them
| again, only as you know, am strict tee
| totaler. Jones and the shark seemed to
| play about together for moment two,
| and then Jones vanished into tile hydrog-
rapher's cabin and shut the door,
THE shark lay head to the open saloon
door. He gave his tail a flap, and seemed
undecided whether he would go on into the
| saloon or come tail first into the cable tank;
the next roller decided the question, for 1t
shot him right into the saloon and banged
the door on him, for all the world as if he
| had pulled IL behind him.
Il heard various sounds from the saloon
where all our best glass was put out, and
covers laid for fifteen people, but did not
go in. Well, you may fancy the state we
were in, the ship pitching and all. Every
one said some one ought to go right into the
saloon and shoot him, that sharks weren't
bit dangerous, but somehow no one went
Every one was off his head; the second Of
hcer proposed to flood the saloon and drown
him, and the donkeyman proposed to bring
steam from the main boilers by a hose and
scald him to death. We couldn't do that,
Tor the fourth bedroom steward was priS-
oned up in the chief cable engineers cabin,
which opened off the saloon, and we could
hear him yelling like all possessed.
| I'VE holSted a signal of distress to the
Malampus gunboat in the roads. She sig
nailed back What's wrong?' and we an
swered: Shark has got into main saloon.
She thought we were kidding her, and told
US to SO-Somewhere."
II should think so.'
Just then our old man came aboard. and
there was gay time, 1 tell you. We got
rifles and tried to shoot the brute through
the skylght. You could see him rolling
about in the pineapples and hothouse flow
ers and broken glass, but he had jammed
his head between the legs of the table,
which had split in two, and the after part
of the table fitted him just like sunbonnet,
and the bullets glanced off it, so we gave
| over.
'All night we heard old Jack Spratt in the
saloon trying to get asleep and tossing
about. Times he'd lie quiet, and times he'd
bend himself into hoop and let go, and
he seemed to hit glass every time The chief
steward said he was breaking as much
| glass a saloon steward-almost
AT In the morning the skipper called
the second engineer, and told him as he
had brought the brute aboard he must get
| q ST af,d
| him down the saloon skylight to keep his
friend company. Skipper was mad for
: when he sent the night before to the Gov
ernor not to come, as there was shark i'm
the saloon, the Governor sent off a doctor
thinking it case of D. t. sure Be
sides, all the ships in the anchorage the
Melampus, two old windbags, and a Dutch
oil tank, were splitting their sides laughing
at
Well the second engineer thought. and
( thought, and thought. Then he got a leg OF
mutton and dangled it down the skyligh
on a string till ii was under the table-fau
of old Chase-me-Charleys sunbonnet He
opened his mouth, and the photographer
who ready with his gun, shot him clear
| through the heart
you should have seen the saloon wher
we went down! Everything smashed, anC
my lord on his back with his head on q
$ | cushion that had somehow got under him
| squashed pineapples and roses and bananas
I | all about him, the tablecloth wound rounC
and round his tail, menu under his fin
, | and a peaceful smile on his face"
THE third told me the other day." sale
/, "of a shark that had its liver cut out
4 was thrown overheard, yet was caugh
again.
!. II guess he told you lie," said the first
Jab at the Cultured East.