Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-12-05
BILL and THE MAN.EATER.

ghany, Taking On COal-Ihe Old
Story, With New Variations,
Of Sharks and Man
Overheard.
Harry Renkell, who lives in Ho-
boken, and Is the first officer of the
old Atlas Line fruiter Allegheny.
which the Hamburg-American Packet
Company runs in the banana trade
between this port and the West In
dies. stepped down from the poop
deck after the vessel had been warped
into her dock at the Battery, and OBJ
served that at last he felt that he
had brought into port yarn worth
the telling. Two or three stout, ef-
ficient officers, who heard this re-
mark, nodded emphatically.
1t was shark story, and had 1t
not been for the fact that when Mr.
Renkell came to the part which close
ly concerned him he suddenly became
diffident, and left important parts
for his shipmates to fill in, it would
have been better to have quoted it
herein directly from his own lips. 1t
might have been better, in any event,
had not that officer and gentleman
absolutely forbidden it, being-as has
been ggested-modest.
Eleven days ago, then, the Allie
ghany lay just off the south coast If
Haiti, coaling from two lighters
which had come out from Aux Cages.
or Les Cages, the natives being divid-
ed upon that point. The weather was
warm; it was hot. The lazy swell
ing waters Of the Caribbean were un-
ruifled by a breath of air. In the
midst of them the old fruiter, with
her drab sides and her gray and red
funnel, radiated hot waves. On a
deck almost too scorching for bare
feet the crew of Tuetons hauled on
the tackle, bringing the coal buckets
from the lighter below to the open
bunker ports.
On the forward lighter bill" Rich
ardson, foreman, was directing a
gang. Richardson was giant negro.
He wore 4 red shirt, pair of home
spun trousers, broad blue sash
and that was about all. He knew
more about getting coal from one
craft to another than any man living
on that little group of reefs, Gays"
whence the place derives its name.
Moreover, he was renowned as q
diver, from which the fact that he
was an excellent swimmer may be
postulated.
Richardson and his men had
worked all through the morning, and,
when drowsy noon came, they all
knocked off and lay about the docks,
smoking and eating. Gus Richter.
the cook, finding the galley altogether
insufferable, had installed stove
upon the deck under the shade of the
forward deckhouse, and there he was
preparing the mems lunch. On all
sides of him, among other things,
were thick chunk of beef, more or
less fresh, and great side of sailed
beef.
Enter the Man-Eatcrs.
Perhaps it was the smell of this
meat that brought large school or
sharks shortly before the lightermen
knocked off for the midday repast;
perhaps they just came without any
special attraction. At all events, they
hove off the forward lighter just as
William Richardson and the rest were
lighting their pipes. They were gaunt
fellows, fifteen feet long, some OF
them-one or two were fully twenty
feet long.
Richardson grinned when he saw
them, showing an even line of big
teeth fully as white as the sharks.
Hungry, eh?" he said, extending
an arm as powerful as that of the
Farneso Hercules done in ebony,
shaking a long forefinger at the
largest of the man-eaters. Hungry,
eh? 'Spects yo' won't git nothin
aroun' here, nohow.'
But the voracious fishes remained
hard by, nevertheless, thereby justi-
flying superstition prevalent down
that way that when a shark comes
around" and stays around, he does
so for reasons Of his own, good and
sufficient.
When Richardson blew his whistle
everybody went to work, and the
sharks were forgotten. But inatten-
tion did not make them depart They
circled about the ship, and when Mr..
Renkell appeared on deck with rifle
of heavy calihre the sharks were
gathering off the lighter again. AS
one basket filled with coal was lifted
to the shoulders of the giant foreman,
he lost his balance and fell, basket
ship.
Diving Under the Hull.
Instinctively he dived down and
when he reappeared 1t was found that
he had 6ived under the hull of his
lighter. With loud hi, vi to show
that he was uninjured, he struck out
with powerful strokes for the light
er's side, when several sharp fms
warned him that the man-eaters were
between him and safety. He half
rose in the water, glanced toward the
stern of the Allegheny, and saw, with
the exception Of one fin, almost dead
ahead, clear water. But this shark
was aware of the presence of ruman
flesh. Evidently he had marked Rich
ardson, for the fin was cutting toward
him like the jack-staff of submerged
submarine.