The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-14
LOOPED THE HURRICANE LOOP
SCHOONER CIRCLES LIKE 4 KIT
TEN CHASING HER TAN.


Like the Button on . PeEtOp string,
wound tip on the spanker BOOm-Ship'
per rive Months Late for Dinner.
Capt. John R. Troop Of the three masted
British schooner LAoonia, who promised
his wife and children that he would eat
dinner with them last Thanksgiving In
Brooklyn. missed II by nearly Ave months
He dined at home yesterday for the first
time in more than half a year. In much
Of the intervening time he has been dodg-
ing hurricanes and playing ring around the
rosy with them in all sorts Of ATTITUDES and
longitudes.
In fair winter weather the Laconla has
made the trip from New Brunswick TO this
port in about twelve days. That Is
what the captain expected to do when he
wrote the letter to his wife from Newfound-
land In October. But he had q hard time
getting crew and when his ship reached
Bottswoodville, n. b., and got her cargo Of
white pine lumber and towering deckload
Of laths aboard II was too late for him TO
keep his engagement. He sailed for this
port on Nov. 81 and found weather lying
in wait for him along his erratio course.
Gale followed gale, creating the TALES
seas the skipper ever encountered His
mate, Edward Jacobsen Of Norway, a
shellback with lots OF experience, but little
knowledge Of the theory Of navigation
expressed In English, was Of little help
to the skipper when II came to Gphering
out where they we're after they had been
several days without a view Of the sun.
That's the reason Jacobsen was depOsed
as mate and came here aboard the Tacoma
yesterday as a mere boatswain. He
acknowledged that he was not navigator
lin English and took his fall with eQuanim-
ity. lie had had others that we're worse.
The gales played their worst game OF
tag with the schooner on the night OF Dec,
II. She was then practically floating on
her buoyant cargo. Seven times she had
chased herself around In a wide circle,
flying before the blast. The skipper and
his three able seamen and one ordinary
seaman, and the Viking mate and Steward
Oscar, had been working without more
than cat maps for more than a week. The
schooners seams had opened and the fore
castle and hold were Hooded. All hands
lived in the after house on the poop, and
when they were not lodging flying punches
Of laths they pumped and pumped and
pumped.
Even the skipper took his turn at the
pumps and worked as hard as any man
before the mast. He did not dare 70 heave
the schooner 10 In the seas as she would
have stood on end and probably carried
away everything that was left forward
Already she had lost her foretopmast, all
her b sad sails and her main boom and gan,
and every stitch OF canvas except mAlnsail
and spanker.
All that she could do was 10 nun before
the blast and she was trying this on the
night Of Dec. II, when a great comber
roared aboard over the starboard quarter.
tkfaT uf Thranl n
crew had not been shorthanded by two
he would not have been there. But he was
a mighty good man for the job, which had
80 much Of the element Of uncertainty
about 1t that he had looped line around
his waist and made the other end fast TO
the starboard rail. 1t was a long loose line,
rs be did not want TO fetch up In hurry
In case a sea should thwack him He was
for the comber when II came,
and but not for its force. II lifted him clear
over the end Of the spanker boom with such
violence that he kept on circling the line
ho.dilg.
He says he does not remember how many
times he was wound up on the end OF the
boom, but no came down hard on the deck
finally, and lay stunned for second. The
ship, without a helmsman, was yawing.
Three Of the four men at the pump just
abaft the break Of the poop, ran aft when
they saw the Norwegian looping the boom
by the light Of the pinnacle lamp, seized
the wheel, and got the vessel on her course I
jacobsen readj his pipe and took
the helm again.
The water had destroyed most Of the
food, and all there was 10 eat thereafter
was salt horse and -four. and mighty little |
Of that But there was plenty OF water,
and lime juice and this Is what kept the |
crew in fair health.
When Christmas Day came the crew
Oegan 70 long for Santa Claus and plum |
iuh. The sea was still rough from recent |
hurricane. What looked like Christmas
vas sighted on the horizon at midday In !
he form of the smoke Of a steamship. The |
schooner set her flag union down and the |
after getting within telescOpio |
range, bore down and stopped within hail
ng distance. She was the British tramp
bound from Cardenas for
davre, and she asked If the crew wanted !
10 be taken OF. The skipper OF the Laconia |
.ooked upon the inquiry as something IN
the nature Of an insult. He responded |
that he did not want 10 be rescued, although |
be- was practically waterlogged, but that
be wanted some provisions-at least enough !
10 make a Christmas dinner. The captain |
Of the indianapolis said he would be glad TO
give the LacOniA a Christmas dinner If
she would launch a boat and come after It,
but that he did not care about rlsklng one !
81 his own boats and men In taking the
dinner 70 the schooner,
Able and hungry seamen Powell, Cannon
and Holm put overheard the only boat
that looked as II it might be good for service, !
IL fell almost to pieces as II struck the
troubled surface and filled. The remnants
we're hauled aboard again. Then Capt.
Troop got his position from the steamship
and was surprised TO find that he DIS about
a thousand miles OF his course and that
was about the nearest port that
he could reach before he could reft and start
again for New York.
Thereafter. II was chiefly a continuous
81
mans hands swollen and blistered. The
skipper was 80 weak from his vigil Of fifty
Ave days that he went to a hospital at
where the dismasted tern put
in on Jan. Is. She was rehtted and sailed
Tor this port on March IS TIE sldpper's
wife and children had given him up as
lost until she heard Of his arrival at Barba-
dos. The Laconia brought her cargo Of
white pine, somewhat moist, with her,