The sun., 1908-06-28
RIDE TURTLES IN FROM SEA
AMAGANsETT FISHERMEN HAVE
AN UNUSUAL ADVENTURE.

Capt. Gabe Edwards Spies 'Em First. and
He nnd mis- Aged Son Get Astride and
Steer 'Em to Standardization That
Ono Turtle 10 More'n Century Old.
The speciality Of Amagansett is whales,
which are mostly of the variety called
right" Amagansett has been prepared for
years TO tackle anything In the cetacean
line. being hberally equipped, with power
boats. modern gun fred harpoons and all
the other weapons that whales are subdued
with in these days OF the wireless. Every
right whale gets In wrong when 1t heads
Amagansett way. and wishes 1t had at
tended some other sort Of school than q
plain whale one where whales gather much
knowledge but little wisdom. There was
general belief in the colony Of whalers
yesterday morning when men on the beach
saw q great commotion of shore that there
was going to be fine battle for big cargo
Of baleen and oil. They were mistaken.
The weird yarn that drifted this way on
the food tide pretended to tell exactly what
happened of Amagansett- Her fishermen
had gone Of shore to haul in nets set to
capture small fry Of the deep. Capt. Gabe
Edwards and his son. aged seventy some
thing. were tugging at q net when it began
to resist in way that suggested monsters
Of the depths--maybe sea serpents eating
up the meshes
since he visited the Tenderloin years ago.
and he was willing to take another peep.
30 he valorously hauled on the net A big
serpent head appeared above the water.
Serpent heads are sometimes seen in the
Tenderloin. 80 the gallant skipper was not
bit put out. The seventy-year-ody young
ster noted another head. also reptilian, and
this reassured the old man. Father and son
each tackled one Of the monsters and at
tempted to drag them aboard.
The big creatures resisted % vigorously
that the boat was oapslzed and father and
son each found himself astride the biggest
specimens Of the Chelonia midas-t that's
what the learned old whaler says they are
over seen In this latitude This is the
species Of Testudinata that makes the
finest green turtle soup In the world, as the
ing for the shore. and he urged the youngster
to keep good saddle and steer the right
course.
This seemed to be difficult at first. But
the old man 10 resourceful. He had a
heavy fish line in his pocket and he passed
Y
deity inserted the lines in the beaks Of the
monsters and shouting -Gitap!' headed
Tor the beach.
The old man beat the boy in, being
mounted on a steed that was more than a
foot longer than the youngsters. Both
creatures were turned on their backs the
moment they got out OF the surf 30 they
could not make for the sea again. Capt.
Gabe seemed unusually interested in his
mount. He said he thought he recognized
It as an acquaintance of his early manhood.
He recalled that when he was down at Rom
cador 30 many years ago that the exact
date had escaped his memory he had turned
over on the beach the biggest turtle he had
with his sheath knife. He thought that this
phenomenal reptile might be the very same
he had decorated. Friends OF the old
whaler turned the monster over and sure
enough they found Capt. Gabe's initials on
his back. Capt. Gabe said the turtle prob
ably was more than hundred years old
The race Of the turtles to the beach natur-
ally suggested that there should be- another
contest to determine whether the older
turtle was the better one. The two monsters
were carried beyond the dunes 30 they
would not be tempted to slide toward the
surf, and father and son each mounted his
skate, as the irreverent horse reporter
driven into the wilderness by the anti-bet-
The betting was 2 to on the inita lied turtle,
he did carry weight for age and
age for weight. The course was a cables
length, or about tenth Of mile, and Capt.
Gabe won handily. He had wagered his
turtle against that of the boy. Fulton
Market will receive the turtles tomorrow