The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-08-18
WONDERFUL YANKEE
SEA DOG IS TALBOT
Although Born in 1909 He Is
Still Ready to Go as
Ships Engineer.
TELLS STORY OF HIS LIFE.
KING EDWARD HAS ATTEND
ED THIRTY-ONE PLAYS THE
PAST SEAsoN-OTHER GOSSIP
FROM LONDON TOWN
By Richard Abercorn.)

Yankee sea-dog is Sidney Talbot, borr
at Brooklyn in 1909, and still ready tC
go to sea again as a ships engineer
Talbot is at present patient in the
Seamen's Hospital at the Albert Docks
as he is temporarily disabled by d
touch of paralysis.
This veteran of ninety-eight years
shows few signs of extreme old age
beyond snowy hair and beard. He
belongs to a family of centenarians, his
father having died at one hundred and
six. his mother at one hundred and five
and his sister at one hundred and two
Until few weeks ago he was working
as engineer on board the deep sea tug
Ulin.
Talbot has told the story of his life
as follows:
4 was born in Brooklyn in the Unit
to England when 1 was twenty and
/ had studied for seven years in an en-
cheering college in my native place.
| knew England was the country where
| should get on as a sailor, and | went
to Southampton as a qualified engineer
and draughtsman.
Since then / have served many mas
tiers, always as a marine engineer. l
have worked on P. and o. and White
Star ships among others. l was one
of the crew that went round the world
with Lord Brassey in the S. Y. Sun
beam. l have also worked for T/orny-
crofts. and / put in two years/4uite by
accident, because / did nc/know what
4
gler in the Mediterranean.
II have been on the tug Ulin for
few years and it was when we last
came up to London that l was taken i'll.
have earned as much as $50 week
in my time, and on the Ulin | was get
ting $50.
-Four times I have been wrecked,
two of the occasions being off the Cape
of Good Hope, where one of my ships
was burned Another time our ship
foundered in the Red Sea and eleven
of us were castaways in ships boat
for five days. We nearly went mad for
thirst. and when at last passing YES
sci picked us up one of my mates made
a frantic rush for the water tanks and
drank himself to death.
II have always been temperate in
drinking and smoking. A pint and
half of ale day is my allowance and /
get almost as much as that in this hos
pital. Shag on shore and ships
aboard is my tobacco rule. l never had
an illness in my life until this one, but
l am feeling almost we'll now, and
when l get out on the sea again and
get myself nicely soaked 1 am sure
shall be all right.
Il hope to go down to Dover in a
few days and begin work again on the
Ulin.'
King Edwards record as a playgoer
during the past season was thirty-one
plays. His taste for plays has been
of very catholic order, favoring
drama, comedy, opera and musical
comedy in fair proportion.
Unless it is a gala performance Civ
en- in honor of some visiting monarch,
nothing of outward show indicates
that the King is visiting London
theatre. His Majesty pays for two
boxes at the usual rates.
He does not encourage managers
theatre going and is annoyed if the
rise of the curtain is delayed until his
arrival. The King likes to slip into his
box unnoticed a few minutes after
the curtain has risen.
King Edward, although once re-
garded as the glass OF fashion" has
lately adopted some styles that no
one will follow. At an afternoon func-
ton late in the season he wore a blue
single-breasted frockcoat, fastened
with a link. His trousers were creased
at the sides instead of at the front
and back. No other man has had the
courage to wear such distinctive gar
ments.
The blue frock coat might have be-
come generally fashionable if the frock
coat had not been entirely superseded
by the cutaway coat; and as for the |
Kings eccentrically creased trousers, |
the fashionable man has failed to APP |
preciate their beauty or utility.
&ss
A new island is being formed by |
volcanic action in the Pacific Ocean |
within sight of the Tonga Islands. The
birth of the new territory was herald
ed by the extraordinary spectacle OF
seven columns of fire, smoke, steam
and black pumice stone, spouting up
TO a height of $50 feet from holes in
the sea.
This impressive manifestation of ma
lures wrath has lasted more than a
fortnight and is accompanied by a
continuous roar and frequent explos-
ions, while blocks of pumice are