New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-12
BOA PROVES LAST STRAW.
Ship Meets "the Ro1cers," q Whale
and Lone .Szcimmer.

Only one tale Of the sea is lacking in the log
Of the shimosa. Captain Champln. in yester-
day from Eastern ports. She passed THE
fowers." who toll all the time in small boat
ghostly the Flying Dutchmans. picked up
q Lascar who had been swimming three days
In the Red Sea, and in odd moments fighting off
sharks: then ran into q whale. SO the mate says.
ten miles off Sandy Hook. and escaped the sea
serpent only to meet big boa constructor. when
the ship had been berthed and everything
snugged down.
The last Eastern port called at by the Shi-
mosa was Singapore. from which she cleared
May %. May l3 found her IN the Red Sea. her
machinery running like clockwork- Captain
Champlin about noon Of that day, while plank
ing back and forth the forward bridge, saw
q email object couple Of miles of the port bow.
With his glasses 10 bear, he it was man
swimming. brown shooting out OF the
water and the head with mechanical regu-
larity The engines We're slowed down. and. as
the man drew alongside he carelessly asked If
he might aboard. A Jacobs ladder was
dropped over the port side and Lascar climbed
on board. He was sent aft TO be questioned by
Captain Champlin, and fioored him al once by
nonchalantly remarking that he had been in
the water for three days. Captain Champlin did
not believe him, and sent him forward to be put
TO work with the other Lascars. With little
enlargement the Lascar told his mates that he
had fallen from a British steamer, and had
actually been afoat about forty-eight hours
He said that half dozen times he had been
attacked by sharks IN the shark infested seas
and had saved himself by the use OF his sheath
knife, diving under them and ripping them
open. The only thanks he got for his stories
the reputation OF being the biggest liar IN the
Southern seas. The shimosa touched at Suez
and there Captain Champlin learned that the
Lascar had really fallen overheard soon after
midnight June II from the British steam
ship Imaun, from Karachui TO Antwerp.
Soon after Gibraltar had dropped below the
skyline, on July q, dirty mist set IN. Two Of
the crew. Fred Smith and o. Olesen. in their
watch below. broke into the paint locker and Sc
cured some shellac. Thy took a stick and
stirred ii around until everything but the alcohol
had adhered TO it Then the remaining alcohol
was th.uned down a bit. and mixed with some
stolen sugar and lemons. Then the men went
on deck
AS they looked overheard they saw a rowboat
with five men in ii rowing toward the vessel
They were about TO shout. they say. when they
cav the crests Of the waves distinctly through
the boat. This paralyzed their tongues. The
boat kept coming on, hit the side of the Shi-
nosa, and dissolved from sight They then
managed TO report TO the mate. but, between the
fright and the sheIlac cocktails, got nothing for
their pains but lot OF work up" jobs the next
Jew days. No one but Smith and Olesen saw
The Rowers. who are supposed to bring even
more dire troubles on the vessels they favor by
hitting than does the Flying Dutchmar
Nothing happened until the ShinOsa reached
Bandy Hook. There the mate says they ran
down eighty-foot whale. No one else saw
'Ehs collision. but the mate swears TO the truth
81 the story. He says that the whale was asleep
On the surface when the Shimosa hit It amid
ships This whale. says the mate. though cut
almost In two. sounded. and came up again
ctose under the Shirnosa's counter, and swan
slowly away. blowing contemptuously. The crew
when the mate raised the cry rushed to the rail.
and small sections Of whale, but they all say
they saw nothing but great quantity Of salt
water. The mate. however, is positive that the
Shimosa gave some whale hard bump.
Finally, when the big steamer was locked in
an East River berth. old white rat climbed
up from the main hatch and jumped from the
into the water. AS he swan toward a hawser,
the blight Of which lay slightly under the sur
face, there was swirl and something green and
white shot out from under the pier shed and the
rat disappeared down the throat Of a twenty-foot
boa constructor. The crew did not wait TO see
what became Of the snake, but bolted aloft.
When they had reached a sufficient height they
looked down and saw the snake diving under the
wharf.
The Lascar and Chinese crew and the few
whites among them said that this was the last
straw, and as result two or three Cherry-st.
boarding houses are crowded with sailors who
willing to ship on the craziest tub anoat
rather than the Shimosa.