The sun., 1903-12-27
The
DROWNING
OF BLACn
JACh.

this rule seldom works the other way.
The reckless daredevil vagabond who
butts about the world into all sorts Of dan
gers and acquires n sort of contempt for
the various forms of death he often faces,
begins after a while to believe that every
one else shares his attitude toward what he
considers at the worst only slight hasten
ing OF the inevitable,
Such man is the average sailor. IL
half his shipmates are washed overheard In a
storm. Jack is depressed for the time being,
but month later when he reaches port,
he is quite apt to give his account of the
incident in a humorous vein.
"Yed "a larfed, he says, in the course Of
his tale, III ye'd a seen the way Tim Hogan
was a-hangin' on to the end OF the topsail
brace. like a blessed herrin' hooked on the
end OF a line. Then, when he couldn't
hold on no longer, he just gives trenlen-
dous wriggle, like he'd swallowed the
bait an 1t was tastin pretty good, an
off he swims like he was lookin' for more,
an that was the arst we sees of Bill
As a matter Of fact, Jack did not laugh
at the time OF the accident His COM
parison Of a drowning man clinging to
the end Of a rope to a hooked fish never
entered his head until he spun his yarn
form Of death so common that it may
be his any day When his turn comes he
will not laugh, but II his ghost survives
him it will probably give an account to the
other ghosts OF it's entrance into the spirit
world in an equally humorous vein.
If you were to consult the log OF the
American bark Southern Cross about eight
years back you would come across an entry
like this:
Chief Mate Hardy disappeared in the mid
die watch Supposed to have fallen over
board while examining the log.
Such an entry is common in ships logs.
and 1t might not excite much interest in
the average shore abiding citizen. but in
the maritime world there are some to whom
it would recall memories Of a strange per-
sonalty-Happy Steve.
How Happy Steve was connected Will
the drowning OF the mate OF the Southern
Cross will develop later. First OF ALL let
me say few words Of the mate.
I will hide Dick Hardys identity under
his real name: none but few ship owners
know him by that. Let it suffice to say
that under an alias something like Black
Jack he was known the world over as one
of the blackest scoundrsls that ever trod
deck.
You could hear tales OF his heroic bru-
talities from Frisco to Calcutta. In his
day boarding masters had to drug sailors
before they could ship them on the South
ern Cross-she was a hard packet. To-
day, believe. abe is reckoned one Of the
most comfortable in the American ner-
chant marine.
1 was present when the first authentic
account of his death was given out by
the one man who knew. This was aboard
the old Nicaraguan bark Don Adolfo
She had aboard a crew OF hardy. reckless
West Coast adventurers. most OF whom
were on the West Coast because 1t was not
particularly heathful for them to be any
where else. Not that they were really q
bad lot, but, as have already said, they
were of that class who had acquired an
attitude toward human life not compatible
with the laws of more civilized parts.
One of the men was chap called Happy
Steve. 1t was his optimistic temperament
that had given him his name Come what
would, hard weather, topsails to reef,
leaky ship to pump or. in fine weather,
deck to holystone, boats to scour with
sand and canvas, Steve always accepted
hardships with jolly SMILE while his ship
mates looked black and swore.
Steve could swear, too, but he did it in
such humorous way that the foul words
on his lips lost their worst significance
Even when he had growl with the captain
it usually ended with the captains laugh
ing and granting the demand.
Usually an optimist is not a favorite in
ships forecastle, but Steve could give every
thing such a humorous turn that his ship
mates would laugh in spite Of themselves.
During the second dog watch he kept the
men in continuous roar of laughter with
his tales Of past exploits.
We had passed the doldrums and were
we'll down into the southeast trades, where
the steady breeze made 1t seldom necessary
to pull rope or to touch a sail. In that
respect it was almost like steamboatng,
Our dog watches were never disturbed,
and every mans artistic ability as story
teller was in full demand.
One evening the conversation turned
to hard-case Yankee packets, of ships where
men take and give blows with deadly in
tent. Each man told of the bucko mates
had known Dick Hardy, or Black Jack he
and his mysterious fate became the princi-
pal subject for discussion.
He was bad un commented kanaka
Joe; blessed if he weren't. I've known
hard-case mates, but most of 'em was
On the square in fight; Black Jack
weren't; he was a mucker; he'd hit man
when he was down"
You bet. agreed another man; sdroTnin' i'm
was TOO ROO0 Ter MN. ne snOulu Deeh
hamstrung tirst then hung by his arms in
the main chains an then billed in pot
q tar"
Here each man gave his idea of fitting
end for Black Jack. and some were quite
ingenious That Is, all did 40 except Happy
Steve. He only laughed irnmoderately as
each man presented his method.
Come, Steve" said Kanaka Joe. show
would you have him cooked?'
Steve laughed uproariously, while his
mates grinned in anticipation of a par
ticularly funny account OF an imaginary
death for Black Jack, But Steves laughter
increased his face was red with suppressed
merriment.
Come, Steve" said cockney sailor.
encouragingly. let's ave the Joke: don't
be a-keepin' il all TO yerself"
why, ,ye blessed galoots," chortled
Steve at last Il could tell ye story of
Black Jack as would make yer eyes water.
Here you chaps is tnlkin' of Black Jack,
with me here as could tell ye more about
him than any man livin'." And Steve
shook with keen appreciation of the
humor of it.
well, why don't you tell u.s." suggested
the cockney.
Well" painted Steve, between spasms.
"scein' as how / am with crowd aa can