The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-11-04

much you will have heard of Trig Olaf
sen. But perhar you are a stranger
there Then go down to the docks
some Sunday TO- ing when the sea-
men are loafing about the gangways,
and ask. They will sing you the saga
of Trig Olafsen. It will come couched
in language hideous1y profane, but no
matter, you VIII learn all about Trig
Olafsen.
Perhaps, if they are in good hu-
NOR, they will tell you of Trig Olaf
sens long swim with liberal criti-
cism of the ways of Providence in pre-
serving the morally unfit. For Olaf
sens ,notoriety as hard case bucko
mate equals Lis fame as a swimmer.
If you sho- Il ever meet Trig Olaf
sen you will understand why he is
feared. Big of body, arms like thighs,
gnarled and hairy; {. lion-like head on
a bull neck, tawny mustache droop-
ing over ponderous Jaws and hair of
the most fiery hue-such a man is Trig
OIafsen. Sailors on the West Coast
will rule or be ruled. Trig Olafsen
has never been ruled, in spite of many
efforts on the -rt Of insubordinate
crews to subdue him. A crowd of r.
ishman tried it once on the Inland
Queen. but Trig piled into them and
smote them with the mighty arm Of his
Viking forefathers. Those were the
days when Dave Kalakaua's banner
f1oated 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 sug-
ar, lumber and coal trade-coa1 from
Australia to Honolulu. thence to San
Francisco with sugar, and back to Aus
tralia with Puget Sound lumber.
From a sailors point of view this
was an 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
full trip. AS they didn't stop to
collect their wages, the owners found
lit profitable to retain Trig Olafsen in
their service. But on one trip they
almost lost him.
The Aloha had cleared the doldrums
and had barely caught the northeast
trades. Tt 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,
shifting the wind, to take prompt adj
vantage Of am favorable change, kept
faithful watch by the weather mizzen
rigging. The men were just taking
coffee when the breeze hauled aft a
trif1e. Instead Of waiting until they
had finished, Olafsen gave the order to
square in a bit at once.
"Slack away your spanker sheet" he
ordered next.
| A man did so, but the block on the
boom damned. The mate leaned over
the railing to overhaul the sheet Sud
denly 1t cleared, and the boom shot
out with jerk to leeward. The mate
had been leaning against the boom,
so naturally n went with it, but. not
having wings, he fell. and a minute
later was shouting in the ships wake.
| The mates watch was made up part.
| ~ of Melbourne larrkins and partly of
Frisco roughs. an unwholesome mix.
ture. Olafsen had not been very cour.
Iteous to them on the trip, and they re-
membered it now of all times. The
ship was making a good six knots. ant
even had the helmsman brought hel
lup into the wind, it would have taker
a good hour to pick up the mate. Blu
the wheel remained unshifted and the
Aloha sailed straight on. The mar
coiled up the ropes. and soon the shout.
Eastern died out in the hiss of the wake
i But it wasn't to save trouble tha'
they paid no heed. An hour later the
man at the wheel cast loose a life
buoy and roared out:
MAN overboard!"
The captain came on deck, all hand.
were called, the ship was hove to art
a boat lowered. They spent an hour
hunting, but of course it wasn't likely
that they would find man dropped
lsix miles astern.
A week later the Aloha came int
Honolulu and officially reported he,
mate lost at sea.
The Aloha hauled up alongside The
railroad dock and began dischargin:
her cargo of coal. The crew were EN-
ployed on deck manipulating burton.
and whips and driving winches, Will,
the kanakas filled tine buckets below
By Saturday you could no longer jun,
down the hatchways to the top Of the
cargo.
It was nearly noon. The men ex
pected to knock off early and were il
pretty good humor, laughing ant
bandying jokes with one another.
Suddenly there came a crash-a buck,
ct dropped on deck, almost driving
through the planks and nearly killing
big Steve at the burton. The man driv.
| ing the ford winch stood stiff, his face
the color of snakes belly, his eyes
bullying. The others were about tt
swear at him, but following his rigid
gaze, horror likewise stiffened them
| Complete stiffness had come over the
busy scene. All eyes were fixed or
| something on the dock.
Picking its way through the line oil
freight cars on the wharf came the tow.
ering figure of the drowned" mate
| Trig Olafsen. .e apparition leaped
| clear of coal pile and landed at the
foot Of the gangway. The cabin boy