The Washington herald., 1907-07-07
.STANCH SHIP At SEA
Worlds Record to Shanghai
and Back Again.
THE SECOND OFFICERS YARN
Takes Over Cargo of Case OIL and
Returns with Spices, skins, and
Tni KaH, an EIEhteen-foot Python.
The Narrative of MacOnOebie and
the Chinese Dread of snakes.

Inc NHffhtihc OF MncOnOcnie ana
the Chinese Dread of snakes.
Right proudly snapped the red flag Of
| England over the spOtless lavender stern
Of the steamship Hudson. which doclieG
AZ the Bush Stores. in South Brooklyn,
with a worlds record slowed away in
her lockers. When a craft brings, in ad-
ditIon TO an unchanged cargo, an honor
of this sort to port. the fact is worthy
/ Of considerable note In a phrase, it
makes a good story. says the New York
Evening Post.
Second Officer Macouochie (Sc0tch) was
well aware OF this, but after the manner
Of his race he allowed the information
TO slip out quite casually when he had
spoken Of many other things, among
them the death Of Tai Kaa, the eighteen
foot python. as well as his own unfortu-
nate investment in monkeys. On second
thought Mr.. Maconochie did not volun-
teer the monkey story. Mr. Stewart (also
Scotch. the third officer, started TO tell
it, and was making It SO good that his
superior officer pounding on the mess
table interrupted him and told 1t himself
II may wait.
The main thing IS that the Hudson left
here on November Il last, with a cargo
OF case OF. steamed 70 Shanghai. took on
a cargo Of teas ana spices and skins. and
returned to this port. all in $50 days. The
total distance was $500 miles. the hourly
speed average for which was 81.
We mayna be a greyhound" said Mr.
Maconochie. 10 whom the duty Of yarn
spinning was assigned by Chief Ofcer
Melkle tEnglish. but for sustained GO
ing, for quickness IN loading and unload
ing cargo, and for time on the round
trip We have beaten the Standard Oil
marine record 10 pieces Aye" And TO
say this Is 10 say any existing marine
record Of circumnavigatlOn.
Averaged Ten Knots.
On the 2l34-mile run between Shanghai
and Singapore the boat averaged 1913
which showed that the Hudson. reckoned
as "a nine-knOt boat. was on her mettle
She would have done even better I'm point
Of total average had il not been FOR un-
usually tempestuous weather in the Med
iterranean, and in the North Atlantic on
the return passage After leaving AL
giers on April there came "a sudden west
gale, blowing IN cumulative fury until it
reached what Is technically known as
force o." or about forty-fve miles an
hour The Hudson bored into the comb
ing heads for several hours. then turned
tail-no easy undertakiuG-and ran up the
east coast of Spain 20 the Bay OF Car
boneros. where she lay in waters compar-
atively calm until the disturbance went
elsewhere.
Then, in crossing the Atlantic. there
were all sorts OF meteorological upheav-
ais, accompanied mostly by following seas
which. under many conditions. are not
the pleasantest variety Of elemental un-
rest that the turbulent ocean keeps In
store for ships that fare thereon. The
result was more loss Of time-twenty-two
days from Algiers instead Of nineteen.
the usual time. And so q will be seen
that the vessel was not favored by wind
and wave IN making her record. on the
way out from this port, ii might DO add
ed, a giant wave ripped away a large part
Of the boat deck. and let many cubic
feet OF daylight. 20 say nothing of water.
into Mr., SteWart's cabin
A Tight Craft
All in ali. the boat has reason TO he
proud OF herself She is a tight craft.
not large. and as spick and span with
her lavender hull and her buff funnel and
her pretty English flag as may well be
imagined Capt f. B. Fenton CNew Yea
landerj was proud. and so were all the
officers. who seemed 50 well met and
were on terms SO jovial and hearty with
Cne another as TO suggest the ward room
Of a war ship They all sat around the
table in the mess room enjoying Mac0no-
chie's narrative IS much as he did him
self assisting him when his memory /
seemed 10 fail wide the monkey story. /
and encouraging him I'm various wavs. /
Lying about were articles Of interest and /
value that in future years will remind /
them Of the trip down the China Sea from
Shanghai 10 Singapore; through the
Straits Of Malacca TO Sebang: across the I
Indian Ocean. through the Gulf Of Alden. /
into the Red Sea. the Suez Canal the
Mediterranean, the Straits Of Gibraltar, |
and then the Misunderstanding 20 re /
member everywhere. and usually a story
10 tell
1T was cold In the Red Sea" said Ma 1
conochie, land that's unusual, and"
Monkeys for New York.
And thereby hangs a tale" interpo. I
lated Stewart. You see Maconochia
bought fifty monkeys on spec ar Shang-
hal He heard monkeys were IN demand 4
in New York and he spent some spare
cash in the beasts. He had Tao Ki. /
one of the sailors"
"Hoot,' The second officers voice
drowned the sentence as a hurricane
smothers a distant bell Now the Chi
aese had nothing to DO with it. Yeu
see"
he!-Mac-ha, no, haw!-onoc-he, haw, |
haw.-chie's coat" sputtered Stewart, /
But the stOry-teller went on. You see /
It was cold in the Red Sea, and the little
beggars took to dying; every day nv !
profits went, until now, With fifteen monks /
left l have not enough to pay for the
venture. And that's all the fun there is"
There may Lave been moro fun; thcre
probably was. judging from the actions
naIa