The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-01-12
THE. TALE OF
AN Old SILL 7
A New Orleans Sea Captain
of the Old School Tells a
Ripping Story of a Mod
ern Battle With Wind and
Waves While Carrying a
Cargo of Dynamite.

y
ternoon. The ship will sail today and
the last of the cargo was being stow
ed away in her hold. Sailors were
busily engaged In putting the finishing
touches of paint to the. after deck
houses and others were getting the
loose running-gear coiled down and
slowed away IN the cable lockers, not
to be opened until the ship made Hull,
her home port. All was hustle and
confusion, but along in the latter part
of the afternoon, when the more i'm
portant work was finished, he turned
the ship over to the tender graces of
Second Officer Glover and we adj
journed to nearby hosiery, where /
hoped, over q glass and pipe, to draw
from the varied experiences of Robert.
son some lively tale of the sea- He
has been following the sea all his life,
and after foTty-fiye years of knocking
about the world has finally settled
down to the comparatively uninterest-
ing trade of the modern merchant
man on a regular run.
Eyes, like all seamen, especially
those who were in the trade in the
days of the old-time sailing ship, ]
have had some odd experiences.
do not like to talk much about them,
however, because it is always said
that I want to get my name in print
But without blowing my own horn too
much / think that / can give you a
story that you can use, and it is no
older than last spring, either"
Here, the glasses being empty, a
halt was made in order that they
might be replenished.
az was on the old Ward line ship
City of Washington. She used to be
the crack ship out of New York in
the coastwfse trade and was original
ly owned by the old Alexander Line.
A fine ship she was, too, if your did
not mind a bit OF roll, for she did
have that habit But, then, she only
had about thirty foot of beam, to a
length of over 400 feet, so a bit OF
motion was to be expected. She could
kick of her thirteen knots easy, and
If pushed a bit was good for fifteen.
That don't sound big nowadays, but
that ship was built twenty-five years
ago.
well, we loaded at New York for
Havana and was ready TO put to sea
on the first "Wednesday in May of
1907. We didn't have no passengers,
because under the United States ship
ping laws ship can't carry passen-
gers and dynamite at the same time,
and we had ESQ tons OF dynamite down
in the hold. Now, there's another
strange thing about them same ship
ping laws. A vessel can carry passen-
gers with calcium carbide packed
away in her midships, and you know
that that is what they make this ERE
acetyline gas out of, and they make it
by adding water. Well, we had 500
tons OF this carbide packed away in
the bottom of her in hundred pound
cans. There was few other things
in the way of cargo, burt nothin' un-
usual
1--WE pulled out into the East river
from the Brooklyn side about noon
and by 4 O'clock was just roundin'
Sandy Hook. The sun was shinin'
bright and except for a good, fresh
breeze from the BASTARD everything
was o. K. We pulled our course a bit
to the su'thard and took a turn about
the ship to see that all was made fast
as it should be. At four bells we had
dinner, and after that / turned in for
q sleep till my watch, at IL o'clock.
We was rollin' bit then, but nuthin'
much, and was soon away. When l
came on deck at midnight the wind
had pulled around to the su'thard stiIl
further and was a smart gale. The
Did ship was putin her nose into it
and rollin' heavy. The wind fresh
ened along toward O'Clock and or
lered reduced speed. When 1 left
the bridge at she was in the middle
IF fine blow. That continued for
he next thirty-six hours, and then we
lit BIT Of clear weather.
II thought that we were out of the
;rouble. although / didn't quite like
he look of the weather toward the
yest'ard. And in another day / knew
hat / was right. Saturday mornin'
;ou'wester hit US square. It was no
imitation, either. I have seen these
yphOons of the China Sea and the
blows OF the Indian Sea, and the tropi-
al blows, but let me tell you that
when a genuine sou'wester hits you
anywhere south of the Car'Iinas you
wont see much worse weather any
vhere.''
Here delicate hint was offered by
he hardly mariner by inverting the
empty teddy glass that stood in front
If him. After a fresh lot of supplies
lad been brought by the waiter and
/ fresh pipe lighted he settled back
o the yarn.
we should have been to the
u tnard of American shoal light when
We hit this blow, but we hadn't made
he top of the Florida coast. Sunday
nornin' the racin' OF the propeller
tipped a jacket OF the crank shaft,
md we had to stop. If the old Wash |
ngton never rolled before she was
here then We lay for five hours in
he trough OF the sea that was made !
" fifty mile wind. She would roll
he rails of her upper deck under on
he port side and then swash the |
vater on over the starboard side /
then pick it up on the starboard side
nd run it on the port. And every
nee in a while to vary things she !
would stick her nose way down deep
ntil 4 thought that she would neve
ONE up and then come up shaking |
Ter head like 9 Newfoundland dog
nd roll tons of water the full length |
Z the ship. There wasn't much in |
he way of deck hxin's left after a
ew hours of this. Late Sunday after /