The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-25
LACKING FOR FLYING FISH.
OLD MARPESIA MAS a SPORTING
TIME IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.

-
yOu MSunt the searChIsht ON Deck and
tIle Fish Jump az 1.-THE Carpenter
Flshed for an AlbatrOSs Got n
wlthout ANY Dismal consequences.
The old Norwegian square rigger Mar
resia, known originally as the County Of
ktnross, and one Of the first Of the four
rnasted iron ships ever turned out Of a
British shipyard. got in the other day with
soue tales that we're duly accumulated
by the only ship news shorthand expert
and respun yesterday. The Marpesia Is
lying in dock in South Brooklyn and the
skipper and officers were ~Iying-weIl. no..
they we're not-they were just examining
q guileless young marine reporter. The
Marpeeia was here the last time In 1893.
and q course gathered in a few sea i'm
cidents In her peregrinatiOns in the seven
seas the poet allows and others really on
che charts. Capt. Nielsen said he could
not name the seven seas himself. and that
the Atlantic and Pacific were really the only
ones worth considering; also that they
Thymed pretty well with gigantic and
terrific. as any poet can tell.
BY reason OF an unusual fall in the river
nc Buenos Ayres the Marpesia could not
sail on schedule on September 10 and had
% wait a day OF two until the tide was nor
NAL. This is a fact. While she was waiting
the mate went ashore to see a scandinavian
lady named Erika. whose pet cat had just
had a litter Of kittens. The lady mentioned
that she did not know what she was going
20 do with so many kittens and she feared
that she would have 70 give them away TO
her friends. She asked the mate II he
would not kindly relieve her Of n and he
said he regretted very much that he could
not. He said he could not take il aboard
ship. as he was sure the rate would eat any
thing In the cat line that was not full grown.
That night when he got aboard tho Mar
pesia the mate was surprised to hear a faint
meowing IN his overcast pocket. Erika
had given one Of the kittens to him while
he wasn't looking. The kitten was turned
over to the steward. It was 30 young
that il could not feed itself, 30 the steward
fed It milk through a fountain pen filler
belonging to the skipper.
on the South American coast the skipper
decided that he would vary the monotony
of a salt horse and canned goods diet with
flying fish. He had heard that flying fish.
like flying creatures OF the air, hutted into
glaring lIgnts. So he had his searchlight
supplied by a dynamo run by the donkey
engine, set going on deck. The flying fish
few aboard in large numbers and when
ever they struck che deck. being unusually
large fish, the only kind that can fly so high,
they made a sound like a man jumping
from the rail. Whenever he heard this
sound the skipper would come up on deck
and secure the fish. The wings Of the fish
were served in the forecastle. They are
not 50 large or 80 fat as turkey wings.
There are two Argentina pigs called Lars
and Jens on the Msrpesia which are the
special pets OF Capt. Nielsen. He got into
the habit Of feeding them with sugar at
four bells in the morning and they always
woke up when they heard the ships time
struck then and trotted aft. They squealed
in front of the cabin until the skipper got
up and gave them each a few Jumps of
e Sometimes the skipper let them
ships company with their ~squealing. Sugar
helps to fatten pigs. improves tho taste Of
their meat and the skipper hopes to cat
them on his next voyage II he does not
catch more ny fish.
Also there In n dog aboard. She IL a
fair weather creature with little hair and
was shivering yesterday while IN reporter
was getting her pedigree. The mate aid
she was not cold but merely nautical.
She was not really shivering; 10 was just
her timbers. The dog. the pigs and the
kitten all sleep together. the dog prevent
ing the rats from eating he kitten. Also
the carpenter caught an albatrOss with a
fish line and nothing happened 70 the ship
IALere NOTWITHSTANDING n tneOIy AuNhnCeu
by Mr.. Coleridge. Anyhow. the seas are
too well travelled now for a craft like the
Marpesia to drift enough to inspire the
ancient mariners to tell stories about her.
The Albatross measured IL feet from tip
TO tip and was stuffed by the carpenter
before he stuffed the reporter.
While coming in, of the Hook, the Mar
peeia was passed by the Scandinavian
American liner G. F. Tietgcn. A pretty
young woman with blue eyes and blond
hair was standing At the liners rail sig
mailing to the square Tigger. The skipper
was below. and he did not find out until he
got here that the Soung woman was his
wife and wanted to greet him. He knew
she was coming to New York, but did not
know the ship she had taken. This also is a
Tact.
The Marpesia is going to have her jigger
fitted with a fore and aft sail before she
sails away from New York. That will make
her what the Britons call n four masted
bark, but which some Americans call a
.shipentine, and most American shippers
call a ship. Another fact.
The MANHATTAN CONCERT.