The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1908-09-19

y
for dead ships with half ton of gun
cotton for bait?
Do you think you would sleep we'll
if you knew that one hundred and
eighty pounds of this powerful explo-
sive were packed in the berth over
your head, and as much more in the
berth next to yours?
No doubt it might disturb your
nerves at first, but after time you
would heeena-a accustomed to- the-lit-
tie wooden boxes tucked away in ev-
cry corner of the ship; you would get
used to seeing the men toss them
about like so much laundry soap, and
you would forget that you were afioat
with a cargo of explosives sufficient
to destroy in one second of time half
the battle ships in the United States
navy.
Gust as safe and simple as batting
hook with dead angleworms," says
the bluff old gunner, as you sit smok.
ing on the quarterback. Surely he
ought to know. At any rate, you
| must take his word for it, and very
soon you find yourself looking out
over the ocean, watching for floating
spars, quite as eager as any member
of the crew to *tpick up a good catch"
Half score of Uncle Sans fleet
revenue cutters are engaged in this
new business of fishing for derelicts.
Day and night from Maine to Florida
0Y11i Oh inn 60
grim old hulks which wallow n the
pathway of transatlantic and coastwse
ships. r..
Imagine yourslf on the quarter deck
of the revenue cutter Mohawk as she
steams quietly away from her anchor
age at Tompkinsville on a derelict
hunting cruise.
The officers and crew are all young
men. First Lieut.. B. l.. Brockway, a
clean cut young Southerner is in COM
mand, with Second Lieut.. R. R.
Waesche ranking second. The CHIEF
engineer is J. J. Bryan, with rank of
second lieutenant He is veteran of
several Arctic expeditions, and can
tell you interesting stories of every
ocean where ships have found their
way. Besides these are four cadets
and a crew of fifty-fve sailors.
But most interesting of all is Ole
Olesen, the chief gunner. His posi-
ton is the most important of all, for
it is lie who handles the gun cotton,
places the mines and performs all the
tlcklish functions connected with the
perilous work. He is red haired blue
eyed and man of few words until ex-
plosives are mentioned, and then he
talks to you about his cargo with a
vividness of detail and description
that makes you wish you were any
where else in the world but on the
Mohawk
AS you move about the ship you get
the feeling that mine ready to be
set off is concealed in every corner.
In your cabin you find a half dozen
boxes securely lashed to the top of a
dressing table. In each of these boxes
is glass jar containing thirty pounds
of gun cotton. In the berth over your
head is as much more. Suspended
from the ceiling swings small tin
box that looks like a can of peas or
peaches. In that are dozen detonat-
ors, vicious little metal fire crackers
that are used to explode the mines.
They are really the ony dangerous
part of the cargo, and that is why
they are left suspended so that there
is no danger of explosion from sudden
shock.
You get the feeling that you are not
likely to enjoy a nights good sleep
with such bed fellows, and you call
Olesen from his comfortable seat on
the deck. To reassure you he re-
moves the cover from one of the box
er and begins to play toss and catch
with cakes Of gun cotton. It looks
like white ice cream.
"You could throw that stuff into the
fire, Or pound it with a sledge ham,
mer,' the gunner tells you, land it
would do no harm. What you see
here is the dry gun cotton. There
are two kinds, dry and wet, and the
wet we keep below decks. The stuff
is harmless until you get it together,
and then you have to have detonator
and an electric spark before anything
happens. We keep the dry gun cot
ton Itowed around above because
these ships weren't designed for hunt
ing derelicts and there isn't any good
place for it below The room is pref
ty well filled in the hold with powder,
dynamite and ammunition for the
guns
With this reinsurance you fali
asleep, to be wakened, at dawn per-
haps, by the general cutlery that a
wreck has been sighted Then the
fun begins, for playing with gun cot
ton mines is nothing but fun for these
revenue cutter sailors The wreck
may manifest itself merely by spar
projecting a few feet above the sur
face or it may reveal the bow or the
stern of great hulk rising and fall
ing with the swell It may Be float
ing or it may be resting on the bot
tom. but no matter what it's position
~>e~~~~~~~~~~~ ~.~.~~o~~~~~~~~
No Disappointment Here.
A man who had been convicted OF
stealing was brought before certain