Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-07-15
FROM CHINA 70
NEw YORK

own on the East River front,
hAn . m1e or so above the
bridge. hes the big steamship
SelAngor. She IL broad as
- well as of great length. and in
her big body twelve thousand
tons of merchandise can be-
slowed without sinking her to the North
Atlantic winter Plimsof mark. She has
very stumpy masta. four Of them. and
they are all made Of iron. each like q
single length Of tapering water main. They
are just cargo dsrricks. each with four
short. thick boomS for loading and dis
charging. and they are also q ironi
in fact. on looking about the decks. there
u not a particle Of wood visible.
The decks themselves are of big iron
plates, and there IL no wooden shOathinG
to the deck house. and their doors are
great leaves Of metal that crsak where
the salt water has got at the hinges. Not
even a wooden block Ii to be seen. for this
IL a hreoracker ship, the nrst Of the
season to bring nom far CSthay hun
drsds OF tons OF Imprisoned noise where
with the American youth will rejoice on
Independence Day. And 30 there must
be nothing infammable about the decks
Of the Selangor. There IL no running rig
ging, and the standing gear b all OF wire
fore and aft, the full length Of the big
ship, there II nothing but metal In sight.
The Chinese and Malays at work at the
matches are not very well pleased st the
law of the ship this voyage. for every
yellow man of the crew, and the few
white ones for that matter, had their last
smoke aboard nearly two months ago. In
Shanghai. They did catch q Chinaman In
the galley lighting his pipe one day. but
be did net try It again.
I'VE have to be es careful as II the ship
were bloomAn' arsenal" said Captain
Watkins, leaning ON the stArboaTd forward
rail as he watched the big cases OF
crackers jerlSed out OF the lower hold by
the donkey. "Just one bit OF q spark IN
that pile below there, q HDeck OF hot
ashes on = few loose grains Of powder
and 'twould be all day with ths whole OF
us. That lower tier OF cases there we got
aboard at Annoy and the rest OF the stun
at Shanghai and Whampoa- OF course We
put 1t away deep among the tea and mat
ting. but I'm never easy till the murdsrtn
powders out OF here. II gets on mans
mind BY and by. steaming day after day
above = couple hundred tons OF explosives,
and when We left the China seas the
sOu'west monsoon was just coming on and
out thunder storm I'm soin' to take
load Of case oil back 70 Yokohama, but
that's not one. two. three with ffty thou
sand pounds OF powder under you, when
one o. them little whifrs Of air gets at
you. with q bsw electric volts mixed up
with It. I've sssn the lightning squirt
right away over the sky like burnin'
quicksilver; aye, I've seen II start at the
Eenlth like a wiaits hot ball and burst into
little trtckles OF IRE like melted steal thai
ran over the clouds at night till the whole
heavens glArSd down ike the CRACK O
doom.
you can see how comfortable this
makes matters in a nrecracker ship. ana
It's a happy man was when we got out
o. the canal and up into cooler weather.
But it's hard 20 keep the men from smok'
ing. You see. We have native SEanss on
board. and We can't keep track OF every
bit OF mischief the yellow fellows get into.
No. you're thinkin' Of Orang-Outangs. A
serang lsn't q monl1sy hs a man; 4 IA
handle the LAscars pretty well and can
talk good English besides the gabbls thaV
use u the men.
He Did7 7 Smoke Much.
Did tho cook smoke ON the vOVagof II
don't know. He tried TO once that know
OF, but he didn't enjoy Il very much II
don't think he found Il worth while The
mate 0here he Is standing by the door
Way came ON run and lodged around
the corner Of the galley one day In thsl