The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-09-30
49,
TURK AN AMUSING SAILOR,
some OF His Happy-GO-Lucky Meth
DDS as a Navigator.
From the New York Sun.

DDS as Navigator.
From the New York Sun.
The Turk as a seaman is as anus
ing as he is terrible as a soldier. For
every story of Macedonian outrage bv
a Bashi- Bazouk one about the funny
antics of his seafaring brother in Islam
can be told.
A story that has become a classic
among Mediterranean sailors illustrates
the Turks inability as a NAVIGATOR
A Turkish steamer with a native
captain put out of the Dardanelles.
pound Tor Trieste. Austria. AS soon as
ne Iost sight of land the Turkish skip
per likewise lost his bearings.
just then another steamer came up
from astern, and the Turk made sig
nails that he wished to speak with the
stranger The latter, on approaching.
proved to be French tramp.
Where are YOU bound for?" asked
the Turk. '''N''
Brest," returned the Frenchman.
The Turk asked no more questions
and allowed the Frenchman ia 90
ahead. The next morning the French
captain noticed that the Turk was
astern, and following in his wake.
When on the second morning he still
found the Turk in his wake his sur
prise grew. On the third day it was
the same, and so on the fourth-the
French captain always made out that
Turkish steamer coming up astern.
On the fifth day he let the Turk over
haul him and asked for an explana
ton. BY this time they were we'll down
the Mediterranean toward the French
coast.
"Why do you keep so close astern of
me?' roared the French captain
through a megaphone.
Il am following you to Trieste" an
swered the Turk
Whereupon the French captain sent a
boat aboard the steamer flying the
crescent to explain to her commander
that he was about 500 miles off his
course and to instruct him how to re-
gain it.
Wonderful to a seaman's ears are the
stories told of the small Turkish
schOoners that navigate the Black Sea,
the Bosphorus and the Sea of Mar
mora. In the first place, it is said that
no watches are kept and that all hands,
including the man at the wheel, not in
frequently sleep at once.
There is no discipline. The sailors
never clean ship OF wash down decks.
This is easy to believe. If you eyer
Sdlt ClOSG " WI VI d L uEhlSH
craft one Whit from its decks will
convince you that cleaning is not the
Turks strongest point in seamanship.
1t is further averred that these
schooners never carry compasses and
dare not lose sight of land. They have
captains, but the rest of the crew are
all equals; they eat, sleep and quarrel
together, and are at liberty to call
themselves mates or the Sailors, as they
choose.
On one ship boarded by the writer all
most pieturesquely in fez and loose,
colored jacket and trousers. Every one
of them was hideOuSly dirty.
AS we were talking a sheep came up
from the cabin and was followed by
a big cat, which rubbed against the
sheep in a most friendly and purring
manner. Chickens were perched about
on any place that offered roost. A
goat that had rubbed its Whiskers
into the universal dirt until they were
fringed black and white at the roots
amb1ed about the decks.
A visit to a Turkish man-o'-war
showed a sight quite as odd. She was
a big, wooden box-shaped craft, with u
high, old fashioned poop. She was an
cl1ored in the Dardanelles doing tenn
porary Custom House duty, so We had
to board her on business.
The deck seemed to have had trou-
BILE with a gale, but that may have
been due to the fact that the sailors
were evidently trying to build what
looked like a big coop for chickens.
An elderly gentleman with white whis-
kers, a red fez and gold-rimmed spec
tacles was experimenting the work IN
his shirt sleeves.
He had a broad. benevolent smile;
it took in strangers as well as the
crew. But beyond an intense desire
to be pleasant the old gentleman did
not seem to know much about the
work he was experimenting. Several
sailors stood about in pensive attitudes,
contemplating what was to be done,
but not doing ii. The benevolent gen.
tleman in shirt sleeves was the bos'n,
We were told.
The captain, trimmed up in much
gold lace, smoked a hookah on the poop
and seemed to find the mess amid
ships ample food for contemplation.
His lieutenant, who was fishing over
the rail, pulled up d fish about three
inches long with a merry whoop, just
as we stepped on the cabin deck. Aft
Ell he had baited his hook again he
turned to attend to our business.
When they are we'll differed, Turks
are not bad sailors. But a Turk can
not command q Turk on the water As
a result, almost all the few steamers
that form the Turkish merchant ma
rine are commanded by Austrian Off
GERS, while only the petty officers and
sailors are children of Islam. The engi-
neers are usually Scotehmen. When
so differed tie sailors are not SO likely
to lose their presence of mind in mo-
ments of danger.
An incident in the harbor of Trieste,
Austria. shows how much an efficient
officer means to Turkish sailors. A fire
occurred on a Turkish steamer with an
Austrian captain, who happened at the
time to be off his ship.
No rational attempt was being made
to extnguish the fire. The bo'sn trot-