Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-08-28
HOW A BOLD STRANGER STUMP.
ED CAPTAIN SMITH.
TALE OF lRMY GREEN
But 1t Ha6 20 Give Way to the Still
Stranger Story of the Great
Ship Dolphin Striker-Strange
and Astonishing Story by Old
Salts.

Tor the Sailors Snug Harbor, says
the New York Sun, but plainly he
was drifting that way and the next
few years no doubt will find him
there. He wore blue flannel cloth
ing, with cardigan jacket beneath
his coat, black SLOUGH hat and
heavy sea boots-indubiable marks of
deop-water skipper. That was
what he was, and as he entered the
little haven on South street where
retired mariners are wont to assem-
Bile roar of welcome went up from
old Captain Smith and his cronies.
Captain Smith, as invariable spokes-
man and oracle, arose laboriously to
his feet and stumped to meet the new
arrival.
why, Cap'n Bill-Smoking' Turn
buckles! but what port did We hail
from and how'd We git here? Cap
Bill, why dash me, hearn We was
lost on the Irmy Green 10 year ago.
Great fish-hooks and snappin' turtles,
but it does me good to see ye So
ye WASH t lost on the Irmy Green,
Ell?
How air YEP replied Cap'n Bill,
Selling the old mans hand Nav,
warn't lost in the wreck of the
Green, e continued, with twinkle
II his eye. Eye see when TIN OF
hooker foundered she fetched up on
submerged iceberg. The ship
didn't go down 10 feet and that there
berg kerried us fioatin' around for
two weeks till finally it hit Glasgow,
the very port we was maxim fer, and
we too tn cargo off in lighters.
Some time after that tn berg melted,
but it had froze up the hole in tn
Green wI,h two-foot layer of ice.
and she was jes' as good as ever.
That is, of course, in tn cold lati-
tudes. She's sailin' moth of So de-
grees to this day, l guess, but let her
get down in tn forties, and the ice
bottom would melt and she'd sink
like an anchor. How DE We all?"
No one answered Captain SmlLh's
jaw had dropped two inches and the
other old salts sat dumfounded
Such effrontery had not been heard
in South street in years. Surely it
must, indeed, be new arrival, ana
albeit a green one, to thus fly in the
lace of the ancient mariner with such
an experience as that. Such Incl
dents, or rather, the recital of them.
had been the sole province OF Cap
tain Smith for so many years that
his rig--t was generally regarded as
inalienaLle. Occasionally some
stranger disregarded this prerogative.
but the result was always sad: for
when Captain Smith, rising to defend
his prestige, unlimbers, gives full
vent to his blistering eloquence, his
plenitude OF objurgation. his fecund
imagination and his unmitieatins
scorn, the unknowing or reckless
stranger experiences all the territy-
ing emotions of person under ma.
chine-gun fire. Surviving the old
mans verbal bombardment he of
tends never again. But more fire.
cuently such a one beats a hasty re-
treat and is seen in these parts no
more. All this is proverbial in South
street, and so everyone in that little
South street resort just sat silent.
held their breath and gazed pityingly
at the newcomer.
Captain Smith resumed his seat
and glared at his old friend. His
chin protruded several inches ana
his face was as red as tropic sun
set.
"Arrump,' he snorted. Set down.
Mister Bill Sykes-set down; We
must hev been friz right up ter yer
craw in tibet there icebox o. yourn.
Ell? Oh, no, boot, the Irmy Greet.
why"-Then followed the pentup ex.
plosion that had been struggling fol
vent for the past five minutes. He
sputtered and reared and pounded
his cane, asserted that there never
was such a ship as the Irmy Green
and that he could prove it; that Cap
tain Bill had never set foot on any
thing but canalboat; that he wasn't
qualified to navigate ON the sweat of
an iCC pilCHci. Iudl It CAME from
New Bedford, which "warnt Bath.
Maine, by long sight and then,
ur able to do suitable justice to his
feelings, he seized the arm of his
chair and jounced himself up and
down it,
Captain Bill sat calmly, smilingly,
through the verbal onslaught He
Iodded amiably and remarked: yes
so, jes' So" in response to the old
gentleman's most pointed periods,
and when he had finished he took
chew of tobacco and rubbed his
beard reflectively.
New Bedford, yaas. mates, that's
whar hail from. it was who COM
manded the Dolphin Striker: you
must remember her Cap'n Smith?
Mo- Sho' We hearn tell on her then.
The whaler Dolphin Striker. back IN
So The Dolph-No, Why. Cap'n
Smith! Well, she was boat for
you, a patent one. Fixed her up my
self. Fixed big harpocn out on
the end of the bow-sprit. Then I'D
amidships we put 40 tons of Dig lead
on cars. We run a track along to
. the forepeak. When we see a whale
we'd run the Striker right up by the
yarmint. then we'd start tho cars