Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-17

perhaps YOU are a stranger there. Then go
down to the docks some Sunday morning
when the seamen are loafing about the
gangways and ask. They will sing you the
saga of Trig Olafsen. 1t will come couched
in language hideously profane, but no mat
ter. you will learn all about Trig Olafsen-
Perhaps if they are in a good humor. th"y
will tell you of Trig Olafsens long swim,
with liberal criticism of the ways of Prov
idence in preserving the morally unfit. For
Olafsen's notorety as a hard case bucko
mate equals his fame as swimmer.
If you should ever meet Trig Olafsen you
will understand why he IS feared. Big Of
body arms like thighs, gnarled and hairy;
a lion-like head a bull neck, a tawny
mustache dropping over ponderous jaws
and hair of the most fiery hue-Such a man
is Trig Olafsen. Sailors on the West Coast
will rule or be ruled. Trig Olafsen has
never been ruled in spite of many efforts
on the part of insubordinate crews to sub
due him. crowd of Irishmen tried it once
on the Island Queen. but Trig piled into
them and smote with the mighty arm of his
Viking forefathers. Those We're the days
when Dave kalakaua's banner fioated from
the palace towers and from the gaffs of a
dozen good sailing ships. Trig OlafSen was
mate of the Hawaiian bark Aloha, then IN
the sugar, lumber and coal trade-coal from
Australia to Honolulu, thence to San Fran
CISCO with sugar, ana Dack 10 AuStr2lll
with Puget sound lumber.
From a sailors point of view this was
ideal run, and the Aloha was a first-rate
ship for living and easy to handle but her
crews invariably left at the end of each
passage. Few made a full trip. AS they
didn't stop to collect their wages, the own
erS found II profitable to retain Trig Olaf
sen in their service. But on one trip they
almost lost him:
The Aloha had cleared the doldrums and
had barely caught the northeast trades. 1t
happened in the morning watch, about
o'clock. The yards were braced sharp UP
on the port tack, and if the Aloha was
making her course that was about all. The
mate smiling the wind, to take prompt adj
vantage of any favorable change. kept
faithful watch by the weather mizzen rig
ging. The men were just taking coffee
when the breeze hauled aft a trife In
stead of waiting until they had finished,
Olafsen gave the order TO square in a bit
at once.
SLACK away your spa mixer sheet" he or
dered next.
A man did So but the block on the boom
damned. The mate leaned over the railing
to overhaul the sheet. Suddenly it clear
ed, and the boom shot out with jerk to
leeward The mate had been leaning
against the boom, so naturally he went
with it, but, not having wings, he fell, and
minute later was shouting in the ships
wake.
The mates watch was mace up partly of
Melbourne Iarrikins and partly of Frisco
roughs, an unwholesome mixture. Olafsen
had not been very courteous to them on
the trip. and they remembered it now of
all times. The ship was making a good
six knots, and even hau the hemsman
brought her up into the wind, it would
have taken good hour to pick up the
mate. But the wheel remained unshifted
and the Aloha sailed straight on. The men
coiled up the ropes, and soon the shouts
astern died out in the hiss or the wake
But it wasn't to save trouble that they
paid no heed. An hour later the man at
Ia " {. # III mo md rod
out:
Man overboard!'
The captain came on deck all hands were
called the ship was hove to and a boat
lowered. They spent an hour hunting. but
of course ii wasn't likely that they would
find a man dropped six miles astern.
A week later the Aloha came into Homo
lulu and officially reported her mate lost at
sea.
The Aloha hauled up alongside the rail-
road dock and began discharging- her cargo
of coal. The crew were employed on deck
manipulating burtons and whips and driv-
ing winches, while the Kanakas filled the
buckets below. BY Saturday you could no
longer jump down the hatchways to the top
OF the cargo.
1t was nearly noon. The men expected to
knock off early and We're in pretty good
humor. laughing and bandying Jokes with
one another
Suddenly there came a crash-a bucket
dropped on deck, almost driving through
the burton. The man driving the ford
winch stood stiff. his face the color of a
snakes belly. his eyes bullying The others
We're about to swear at him, but following
his rigid gaze. horror likewise stiffened
them. Complete stiffness had come over
the busy scene. All eyes were fixed on
something on the dock.
Picking its way through the line of
freight ears on the wharf came the tower
ing figure of the drowned" mate-'rrfg
Olafsen, The aparition leaped clear of a
coal pile and landed at the foot of the gang
way The cabin boy, cleaning the gangway
brass looked up. gave a frightened scream
and bolted down into the cabin.
only one man about there had never seen
the mates big figure. and he was the dock
Waterman. AS he did not see anything
particularly ghostly in it this first time and
besides. had a pretty clear conscience. he
took no part In the panic that followed. He
Is the only one capable of giving a concise,
impartial account of what happened-the
rest shiver yet when they think of il
have heard the Waterman tell the story
several times, and he always tells it In a
humorous vein. To him il was extremely
funny. You See he did not know the mate
should have been dead ten days
Ir,g Olafsen came up the gangway, his
head thrown up like lion smelling fresh
meat. The plank quivered beneath his pom
derous tread. His huge mustache trailed
back over his set jaws. his hair bristIed
and his big hairy arms were swollen and
bare to the elbows. for he had thrown off
his hat and coat on the dock He paused
at the top for just one moment then. with
roar like breakers on a reef he bounded
to the deck
The Waterman says he never saw such a
wild SCRAMBLED couldn't be COMPARED TO
the panic at Weikiki. when the tiger got
loose in the circus menagerie. Not only
the ship, but the whole island was much too
small for the Aloha's crew just then
The ghost seized capstan bar from the
rack at the break of the poop and charged
m,dships. Five of the men leaned over
board and swan frantically across the har-
Dor TO the mail dock. Two fed IN the rig
ging and the rest sprang to the dock
, drop OF nearly ten feet. Up the track thew
pelted, Trlg Olafsen after them. hurting
the capstan bar ahead of him. picking IL IN
again when he got TO il. and roaring ON,
biood-curdling oaths in Morse and English
all the while
Here the watchman became hysterical
and saw no more until Olafsen reaDpeared
on the deserted deck, roaring and tuning
among the empty coal buckets and using
most unghostly language. Then the skipper
came up from below and staggered against
the skylight. white as water-soaked
corpse.
What in de name of de Flying Dutch
mans hgure-head We starin' at me like dat
for?' roared Trig Olafsen
lie really didn't swear by the fiyfng
Dntchman's hgure-head: il was something
ueSiuedly more expressive then that
ne captain recovered-no drowned man
h lf,vawx