Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-10-14
Miseellaneuus Reading.
SWAN Three DAYS.
A Sailors Marvellous Tale of the Red
Sea,
J. r. LINDSAY.

Sea.
OF all the strange tales which sailor
men have brought to port, one of the
most extraordinary is that which was
told yesterday by the crew Of the
British steamer Shimosa upon her ar
rival from Japan and China, says the
New York Herald.
It Is that Of Lascar sailor who was
picked up in the middle Of the Red
sea, a swarthy heather, who, accord
ing to his half incoherent version, had
been swimming three days and nights
when rescued. BY calculating the
speed of the vessel from which he had
fallen overheard, and that Of the one
which had rescued him, Capt. Champ
lin Is certain that the man was at
least thirty-six hours in the water be-
fore the Shimosa picked him up.
1T was about o'clock on June 13,"
he said I'VE were steaming through
the Red Sea and were three or four
days from Suez, when the lookout
sighted something in the water a bit
on the port bow. The object was so
small that he did not report it, and
the man would probably have been
left to drown had he not set up cry
which some of the crew heard. The
ship was stopped and a few minutes
later the chap came swimming along
side. We got the sea ladder over and
he climbed on board without help.
mo, I can't say he looked any diff
ferent from any other Lascar. We
gave him a wash down with fresh wa
ter and a peg of rum to liven him up,
and then, after giving him something
to eat, sent him to bed. He seemed all
right when he woke up the next morn
ing, but we could get little out Of him
except the name Of the vessel from
which he had fallen overheard and his
statement that he had been three days
and nights swimming.
1.-The name of the vessel he gave was
the steamer Imaun, an Indian trader,
and on her way to Antwerp She Is
about the same speed as we are, and
when we reached Suez, three days la
ter, found that she had reached there
Just thirty-six hours before we ar
rived, and then had gone on her way.
From this I Judge that the man had
been that length Of time in the water.
I sent him to the British consul with
letter explaining how we came to
have him on board, and that Is all I
know about It."
The Shimosa was opulent with
strange tales. Soon after she reached
her pier it went around that she had
smashed into sleeping whale of the
lightship, and cut 1t in two.
ASK the mate" said the captain,
when queried about this encounter.
Him 'urt," said the mate, enigmat-
ically. And from divers winks and
nudges and the noise Of muff1ed laugh
ter it was gathered that some one had
imagined this tale of a whale and
had made the mate the hero Of it.
Then some of the crew passed to the
side of the ship and, pointing down.
WdrQ, tdlheu eACileuiy VI q poa VII
strictor being in the water. This was
regarded as another stroke Of derision
by those who stood about the mate,
but the Chinese crew Of this British
ship with the Japanese name gibbered
SO much and so long that the party
moved over to the rail to look and then
marvelled at the truthfulness Of those
Orientals until they were almost blind.
For there in the water at the vessels
East river pier was a snake, or rather,
the carcass Of one. No one knew any
thing about how it got there, but 1t is
supposed to have been thrown over
board by some Of the East Side animal
dealers.