The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-01-28
STORIES OF THE SEA.
Quenching a Blaze In a Hurry on
Board a War Vessel.
PRANK OF A TRICKY MASCOT.

We were making passage from Nor
folk, Va, to Lisbon, Portugal, in the
United States steamship Alliance. 1t
was shortly after 4 o'clock. I had just
gone to my room for a pipeful Of to-
bacco when the sailmaker came to my
door with a scared face. "Got any wa
ter in your room. Mr.. Du Bots" he
said.
"Yes; here's a pailful."
"For Gods sake give it to me quick!
The sail rooms afire, but don't say
anything! I'll have it out in min
utev'
1 handed him the pail Of water, but
was not going to take any chances OF
a fire on a man-of-war with fifteen
tons ofspowder not six feet away, SO
I ran to the ships bell and rang the
fire alarm as furiously as I could. In
less time than it takes you to read this
hand grenades were being thrown and
water was pouring into the now sti-
fling mass Of burning canvas. Men
jumped in among the great bundles OF
furled sails and passed them out, and
when one could not endure the smoke
any longer another took his place. At
last the danger was over, and l began
to look around and take stock Of the
affair.
I had often wondered what / would
do in case Of a fire on the ship.
would save my watch. A watch Is
never used at sea, so it hung from
hook over my desk. would be sure
to take along my best girls picture,
and there were a few other little be-
longings which must not be parted
with. Well, when the thing was over,
what had I gathered together? Not
my watch, not my best girls picture,
not anything that I had thought I
would, but I had filed my pockets
with extract Of beef and nothing else.
Dumb instinct, not thought Of any
thing but Of something good to eat In
dire extremity.
How did the fire start? The sail
maker, whose duty it is to keep the
sails In good order, Is privileged to go
to the sail room at any time, but he Is
supposed to always carry a peculiar
lantern, consisting Of a common candle
set in a globe Of horn, sufficiently
opaque to give enough light for his
needs there. The candle does away
with any danger from oil that might
be spilled and catch FIRE, and the globe,
being Of horn instead Of glass, pre-
cludes a possibility Of breakage. This
time the sailmaker, desiring a little
more light, had taken out the candle.
It had dropped from his fingers away
down into the blight Of a furled sail,
and the cloth had caught fire. There
was a terrible mess Of burned and
smoky sails in there, and they were
all hauled up on deck and spread out
in the gun to dry and to find out just
what the damage was. In the bottom
Of the room on the floor one of the
men found the stump Of candle and
put it in his pocket. The sailmaker
was favorite on board, and the OIL
GERS never found out how the fire
started. They thought they knew.
The captain ''broke" the sailmaker-
that is, reduced him to the decks. But
he couldn't prove anything. So after
a week or so he restored him to his old
rank.
We came near having another IRE
once, and, while It might have been
very serious, It was really funny.
We had several hundred pounds q
gun cotton on board, and, fearing that
it might have gathered dampness, the
gunner's gang got up the cases from
the magazine, pulled It all out and
spread 1t on the warm decks far aft In
the sun to dry. Away forward the
boatswain's mate and his gang were
busy with tar pots and ropes putting
some Of their stuff in order.
We had on board mascot In the
shape Of monkey, one Of the largest
have ever seen. He would stand
quite three feet high, and he was the
very Old Nick for mischief. He was q
great nuisance, that monkey, and must
always be doing what he saw any OF
the men doing.
Well, Mr.. Monkey saw the men with
the warm tar, and nothing would do
but he must have a hand In the job
literally; so he ran forward and dipped
his hands into the pot and In minute
was all besmeared with the sticky
stuff; then he bolted aft as fast as he
could scamper and rolled in the gun
cotton, got himself well covered with
It and ran aloft into the rigging. Sail
ors have saying, 1.-THE devil to pay
and no pitch hot" but the pitch was
hot this time, and the condition was
actually appalling. Some of the men
ran after him. but 1t was impossible to
catch him. He was too shrewd for
that. The gunner's gang gathered up
that gun cotton as men never did so
fast In their lives before and put It
back into the cans, for had that fool
monkey dropped from aloft into It he
would have blown che ship to king
dom come. They got it out Of the way
without disaster, but for several hours
that creature sat up there picking gun
cotton from himself and throwing It
overheard. AS I said, the episode
would have been comical had It not
been fraught with so much danger. It
might have been another sea mys-
terry" but 1t was not.-Stanley Du Bois
in Los Angeles Times.
He bears misery best who hides j.