Evening star., 1903-07-18
Written for The Evening Star by Albert Sonnich-
Able Seaman

Written for The Evening Star by Albert sonnich-
sen. Able Seaman.
The average landsman has the fear of
the sea strong in his soul. Therefore, says
the landsman, the sailor is a brave man:
he is in truth the bravest Of men, for he
goes down to the deep with rollickng
song on his lips and devil-may-care gait
that signify utter Indifference to the
known and unknown perls that beset him
on all sides.
Five years of experience at has
proved to me that the landSman has a
vastly exaggerated idea of the sailors
bravery. While life does attract men
who have a natural disregard for personal
danger. it may safely be said that the
typical sailor is a strange contradiction
of reckless bravery and arrant cowardice.
Here is an incident In point. 1t occurred
aboard a vessel in which l made my first
TRIP to
A Heroic Act.
We were sailing before fve-knot breeze
through tropical sea. For several days
big sharks. on the lookout for refuse. had
been following the ship One morning a
boy. painting over the stern. lost his hold
and fell overheard. All hands saw the
accident. but it remained for a young Eng
lishman to act Before the cry had been
raised he seized life belt and leaped over
board with it.
When the ship was hove to both men
were a mile astern, and almost an hour
passed before they were picked up. Mean
while the Englshman had reached the
boy with the life belt, for the latter could
not swim. The Engshlnan also d!SpiaSed
great coOlness in keeping or the sharks,
remaining quite still until they were close.
when he frightened them off with few
lively kicks for a shark is really n tm!d
creature But few men have the presence
of mind to think of this when In the water
OF course, the man was made much OF
for his heroic act; to leap overheard IN
sha infested waters is deed that cs-
pecially appeals to seaman $ admiration.
About month afterwards we ran INTO
cold eather. and then. one dark nlght. we
encountered Il stiff gale that made 1t nee
essary to shorten sail rather suddenly. The
lighter canvas speedily brought uhder
control and furled, but by the time lhls
was done the wind became so strong that
all hands were called to furl big topSa1l
Even the cook and the steward were obliged
to go aloft with the rest of u.s. while the
captain relieved the man at the wheel that
he might also help with the sail.
1t was tremendous job. for the heaVy
sail f1apped and thundered over the line of
men stretched out on the frail spar. shaking
the mast as though cannon were being dis-
charged from the deck. Finally, after an
hours struggle. the sail was tightly furled
to the yard. and the men were just prepar-
ing to go down when the mate. who had
been experimenting the job. cried out:
Hold on there fellers. we've been one
man short! Has anybody gone overboard?
Nobody had been seen to fall.
Then" bawled the mate. some ones
loafng You fellers stay up here till go
down on deck and find out who 1t Is
The Brave Sailor Turns Coward.
When he came down the mate found the
shirker 1t the young Englishman who
had braved the sharks when the rest hesi-
tated.
Had it been any other man he would
have been severely punished, but as 1t
was. no one said word nor even cast
reproachful hint. This the man felt so
keenly that when the port was reached he
was obliged to be treated in a marine hos
pital for nervous disorder.
l met this man ashore some years after
ward He was on the San Francisco police
force. where he had secured employment.
for he never ventured to sea again. He
voluntarily discussed his case with me. He
attributed his cOwardlce in the storm to
heredty. He came of Italian stock prima-
rly. and his theory was that for centuries
his ancestors had been used to the COM
paratively calm waters of the Mediterra-
mean. where most of the sailing is done in
craft 50 small that the sails can be handled
from on deck. The danger seamen face
there is from treacherous undercurrents
and hidden rocks. ana at h;tnGllnS Small
boats men of Latin blood are as brave as
the best. But when it comes to lighting
struggling canvas on lofty ice-coated yards
they feel and show the fear of unfa-
miliar danger.
Observation has led me to believe this
The best deep sailors. the most daring
men aloft Morse orisin-Russian.
Finn, Dane, Swede. Norwegian Anglo
Saxon. These men, especially the Scandi-
navians. whose ancestors sailed the stormy
Baltic and North Sea. are universally
knowledged to be the boldesst seamen.
A Daring Form of Bravery.
Daring aloft is "A form of bravery most
kecaly appreciated by seamen. The man
who will crawl out on yardarm in a
bowling gale of wind to pass a reef caring
about its extremity is more admired than a
man who would display coolness under fire
The latter is considered passive kind of
courage. while the other is actual daring by
Il man who knows his danger.
Almost all greenhorns show signs OF
fear upon going aloft the first time. Some
sailors never get over a sense of nauseating
uneasiness when aloft, even in port. l once
met a strange exception. He a green
boy who had never before been to sea. The
first day out he climbed aloft, showing not
the slightest signs of fear. He Skinned
up bare poles like a monkey. slid down
stays and hung about in midair from
ropes that We're never intended for climb
ing. Finally, he reached the very top of
of the masts and deliberately sat
the truck-the fiat gilt ball through which
the flag halyard is rove Without holding
on. he comfortably contemplated the hori-
zon about him. dangling his feet against
the bare mast underneath his perch Mean
while, all hands were watching him breath
leSSiy from deck.
But the strangest thing of all was the
fact that this boy was Swiss. coming from
a country whose people never have been
sailors. Perhaps absence of giddiness in
his case could be attributed to his noun
tain climbing ancestors.
Sailors Shun Fights.
1t is proverbial that sailors love fighting
especially of the rough and tumble order.
Ordinarily this is only true of them when
they are drunk. Still. some tough cases
are found on American ships. The average
mate of a Yankee vessel is ready and even
anxious to fight against any odds at any
moment. Some of them will even tackle
whole ships crew at once. and their
very audacty often wins them their bat
ties This is not because they are Ameri-
cans, for many are foreigners, but for the
reason that American ship owners demand
that sort of officers to control the crews