Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-06
SPLICED BY SKIPPER

tive heard some uniformed people uues-
ton whether that recent marriage Of .
young Baltimore couple on board one OF
the coastwise steamers by the skipper OF
the steamer was q legal ceremony" ooserv-
ed o Washingtonian who knows the seven
seas ana the customs and traditions thereof
fairly well. cit certainly was lesai-piumb
legal. A skipper can do a whole lot OF
things that most people don't know he's
entitled to do. He can arrest you, for one
thing. He can bury the Dead OF course.
and I've seen plenty Of them baptiss young
'uns. And can testify that they'vs got the
marrying spiel. because I've seen 'em sx-
ercise that amiable power.
In % went down to the isthmus from
San Francisco on the Old Coiima, that
afterward went down or Cape 81 Lucas
with all hands. Among the passengers on
that voyage were q hustiing young Ameri-
can and = sprtghtly. clever girl. neither OF
whom. TIL climbing over tho gnngway. had
ever clapped lamp upon the other. The
young American had been living In Man
Eanilio. Mexico for Q couple Of years, act
ing as Aanxanillo manager for an Ameri-
can shipping Arm. The girl had been act
ing n goyerness for q wealthy Valparaiso
family. She had been visiting California
with the whole Valparaiso family and was
American and the girl happened to be
messmateaI being placed alongside each
other at table. and 1t didn't take one-eighth
Of a starboard light to illuminate the situa-
ton that they were hitting It or with each
other mighty slick and fine from the time
the Colima left the Farallones on the hori-
CONS rim. On the third day out the mother
Of the South American brood for whom the
girl was goveTness began to look blue over
the prospect. which was piain enough, that
she was going 10 lose q f1ns governess
Fourth day out bets began to be laid in
the smoking room. with no takers. that
before she made Manzanilio. The reason
why there were no takers was that the
young man had been seen In earnest con-
ference with the skipper. 1t appeared that
three days before the ship was due to fetch
Manzanillo, but the girl wouldn't listen to
the proposition. Her idea was a marriage
just before the ship reached Manzanillo.
They both were Protestants. and as such
they preferred not to be married by the
Catholic priest In Manzanillo or the Man
zaniilo alcalde. And the Valparaiso family
wanted to SEQ the governees safely married
before they let her go. We pulled first
sight OF Manzanillo at o'clock In the
afternoon. and all OF the passengers were
mustered on the main deck. aft, to wit
ness the ceremony There wasn't any fiub-
dub or superfuous trimmings about II. The
skipper brought out his little book and
read the marriage lines In his tremendous
basso profundo. For many years the gov
erness had been wearing her dead mothers
wedding ring suspended around her neck
by a tiny chain. and she used that ring for
her own wedding.
"All that was necessary to make the thing
realistic was some feminine weeps. and
these eventuated at just the proper mo-
ment. First the handsome, wholesome
mother Of the Valparaiso children for
whom the bride had been goyernessing
broke out The couple had No sooner been
pronounced man and wife than she fell
upon the girls neck, and. after kissing her
most. affectionately. performed the neces-
sary feminine wailing to the queens taste,
in which she was fervently Joined by all
of her brood who were broken-hearted
when they learned that they were going to
lose their beloved American governess. The
big-bearded skipper, of course-the same
who went down with the Colima when she
turned turtle in the hurricane OF Cape St.
Lucas-claimed the immemortal privilege of
splfcers on land and sea. He stood up
straight, squared out his vast chest, pulled
up his sleeves and glanced around with an
expression that said just as plain as words,
oh. It's 3corching sin and shocking
stow upon this deep-sea bride and then
he wrapped her in his boa-constrictor
grasp-and her whole head was lost in his
immense brown beard. It was a nice little
incident, that marriage, and I'll bet a hat
those two young folks, IL they're alive, are
as happy as a pair OF brier birds and Just
as much in love with each other today as
they were on the day Of their wedding in
those mazarine waters; like to hope SO.
anyhow.
THE second time it came my way to wit
ness a deep-sea marriage was on board the
old Belgic-she also went on the rocks and
was lost-on run from Yokohama to San
Francisco, in '05. The young chap who
figured as party OF the second part in this
marriage was a steamahip engineer. He'd
been taken sick while serving as assistant
engineer on Nipponese steamer running
between Yokohama and Hongkong and had
been sent to the big marine hospital in
Yokohama. The fever that held him stuck
to him for nearly three months. But maybe
he wasn't really in much Of a hurry to con-
valesce for. upon hearing Of his illness. the
girl to whom he was engaged-she lived in
Vallejo, Cal. and was q school teacher
had drawn her savings out OF the bank and
started to hustle to her young mans bed
side. to help nurse him. as fast as ship
could carry her from San Francisco to
Yokohama. The girls mother back In VAL
lejo. 1t appeared. was dead sore upon the
idea Of her daughter marrying a man who
followed the deep for livelihood. and be-
fore the girl had left Vallejo for Japan the
last thing the old lady had said to her
this came out in the course Of the long
journey back to San Francisco-was:
III you marry that young man you're
going to while in Japan TIL never forgive
you.
"The young engineer was returning to
San Francisco to take job on a steam
boat on the San Joaquin river SO as to be
near home. and when he got strong enough
to stand the trip he and the girl sailed for
San Francisco on the Belgic. The skipper OF
the Belgic knew the young engineer and he
rallied him about the situation before the
Belgic got up her mud hook for the voyage,
It's the bad Job, young matey.' the\
skipper said to the young engineer with
ponderous solemnity. this thing Of JAM
ming up and down deep water with
young woman, and no chaperon. I'm sur
prised at you, a seafaring man, too, that
ought to know and respect the-er-the
viewpoint Of straightforward folks in these
matters! Tush, lad, why not fetch the girl
to me, up at the mainmast, and let me
splice the pair O. yer
1.-The young engineer gloomfly told the
skipper that he'd wanted to marry the girl
in Yokohama, with the American consul to
perform the ceremony, but that the young
woman didn't feel like disobeyfng her
mothers mandate about getting married in
Japan.
riddles. me lad. and how much Of ia
pan will we be in in an hour from thfs?"
said the skipper-for the call of up-anchor
was due in half an hour. The open sea-
there's the space for a sailorman to be mar
ried Fetch the girl aft and we'll have the
pair o. we in fgure-of-eight knot in
fifty
"The suggestion made an instant hit, and
tho EeJpic hadn't rofnted her nose seaward