The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-03
CAP'N BOB OF THE SCREAMER

Just in, Captain" I cried, spring
ing to my feet. my fingers closing
around his-no more welcome visitor
than Captain Bob ever pushes open my
office door.
Yes-TeUtonic.'
Where did you pick her up-Fire
Island? ?"
No: bout hundred miles off Mon
tauk"
Captain Bob has been d Sandy Hook
pilot for some years back.
How was the weather." I had a
chair ready for him now and was lift
ing the lid of my desk in search Of
box of cigars.
Pretty dirty Nasty swell on. and
50 thick you could hack holes in it.
Gene pretty nigh missin' her''-and the
Captain opened his big stOTmcOat and
reached out a long, brawny arm for
the cigar I was extending toward him.
I have described this sea-dog before
as younger sea-dOg- twenty years
younger, in fact. He was in my employ
then-he and his sloOp Screamer. Ev-
cry big foundation stone in Shark
Ledge Iight-the one off Keyport har-
bOT-can tell you about them both.
n those lighthouse days this Captain
Bob was "a tell, straight, bIue-eyed
young fellow of twenty-five. with a
face Ike an open book"
He is precisely the same kind Of a
man today, plus twenty years Of expe-
rfence. That he should now rank as
the most expert pilot on the station
was quite to be expected. He could
have filed as well a commanders place
on the bridge, had he chosen to work
along those lines.
And the modesty Of the mani
Nothing that he has done, OF can
stin do, has ever stretched his hat
measure or swelled any part Of his
thinking apparatus The old pilot cap
Is still number seven. and the sensible
head beneath it is number seven. too.
AS I look at him now, sitting in my
office chair, the smoke Of his cigar curl
ing about his brOnzed, weather-tanned
face, my eye taking IN his slim waist,
slender thighs and long. sinewy arms
. and hands that have served him so
well all his life I can hardly believe
that twenty years have passed over
his head since We worked together on
Shark. Ledge But for the marks
chaIked on his temples by the Old Man
with the HoUrgiass and the few tally
scores Of hard work crossing the cor
ners OF his mouth and eyes he has the
same external appearance as in the old
days
This pilotin' s pretty rough some
times" Captain Bob continued between
the puffs Of smoke, but it amt noth-I
in TO the old days When look back
on II all, seems to me as if we was out
o our heads most o the time I didn't
know fl then, but t was true all the
same. Think now o Iayin' the Scream
OF brOadside on that stone pile at
Shark Ledge, unlOacin' them stone
with nothin' but a pair O spar buoys
TO keep 'er. off Wonder didn't leave
'er bones there Would if I hadn't
knowed every stick O. timber in 'er
and jest what she could stagger IN
der"
But she was a good seaboat." 7 in
terpoIated. The Screamer was always
the pride of the work"
None. better. You'd although so If
you'd been with us that night off Hat
teTas; we layin' TO, matches battened
down. 7 never see IL blow Wuss It
came out o the nOr'wesU bout dark
and fore mOTuin' I tell We It was
a-hUmpin' things We started with
pretty decent set o sails. new eyeIets
rove in an new cleW lines, but, Lord
love We, we hadn't taken old HatteraS
into consideration
I'VE lay 'rOUnd till m0rnin' an then
long come a ooaler bound for Charles
ten. She see US a-wallOwin' in the
trough and our mast thrashin' for all
it was worth.
What dye want?' the skipper
says, when he got within hail
Some sail needles and a ball o
tWine,' I hOlleTed back; we got every
thing else You should just a-heard
him cUsG-" and one Of Captain Bob's
laughs rang out through the room
''Them's two things I'd fOTgOt-didn't
think O. them In fact TIL the main
sheet give way.
well. he chuCked 'em aboard with
another cusS- I hadn't no money to
lay no salvage All We wanted was
them needles and a little elbow grease
and gumptiOn. So we started in. and
fore night she still a-thrashin', I'd
fixed up the sails, patched the eyeIets
with a pair o boot legs, and was off
again"
What were you doing off HatteraS,
Captain Bob2'' I asked I was leading
linn on, processing ignorance Of minor
details. so that I could enjoy the delight
of hearing him tel it.
"Oh, that was another one o them
crazy Jobs I used 20 take when didn't
know no better. Why, I guess you re
member bout that WTeCkin' job off
Hamilton, Bermuda
He was settled in his chair now. his
legs crossed, his head down between
his shoulders.
you see. after I quit work on The
ledge 1 was put to Z for a job. and
there come along a feIler by the name
Of LamsOn-the agent Of an insurance
company, who wanted me TO 90 to Ber-
muda and git up some fOrty-twO pieces
o white Italian marble that had been
wrecked three years before off the har-
Dor Of Hamilton. They ran from three
10 twenty-One tons each, ne said. So
of I started with the SCTeameT. He
didn't say. though. that the wreck lay
on a coral reef eight miles from land
or I'd stayed to home in New Bedford.
When I got to where the wreck lay
you couldn't see q thing 'bOve water
So I got into an old divin' dress we
had abOaTd-One we used on the ledge
oiled up the pump. and went down TO
look her over. and by Jimmy Criminy
not a scrap o that wreck was left 'cept
the rusty iron work and that part o
the bottom plankin' Of the vessel that
lay under the stones Everything else
was eat up with the worms Funniest
IoOkin' place you ever see The water
was just as clear as air, and I could
see every one o them stone plain as