Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-22

cent southern hurricane, not only to
have one careering for his ship, but
i to put II to flight and avert what
seemed certain disaster.
| Several voyages ago, when the Sea-
vey was bound from Baltimore to Port
| Tampa with COAL she ran into a calm
somewhere off the North Carolina
coast where most of the strange
things In these waters happen. With
all sails set and tapping futilely in
light, ineffective puffs of wind, the
schooner lay motionless on the bosom
Of the Atlantic, with all hands whist
ling industriously for a wind.
Suddenly Captain Dodge saw a
/ healthy waterspout some distance
away 1t was travelling at a good
rate, swirling like good fellow and
acting like Jack ashore with two
months pay in his pocket. 1t was
quite an inspiring sight to see the
| tall column Of water chasing Itself
around on the ocean.
But horrors! Suddenly II changed
its course and started directly for the
motionless Seavey. Like an avalanche
Of death 1t came and Captain Dodge
began to wonder IL they'd miss him on
| Gay street On and on 1t tore, getting
| blacker and more menacing every Sec
ond. Death stared the crew Of the
Seavey In the face.
Then suddenly something happened.
A puff Of wind swung the booms over
and the sails Slated with a noise like
pistol shots. The noise acted like ma
gic, for the waterspout halted In its
| course, turned away, and sick and dis
couraged, collapsed back into the sea.
The schooner and her brave company
were saved for another trip.
Captain Dodge saw nothing unusual
| In the breaking of the spout. He says
II Is well-known fact that the report
Of q gun, with the consequent disturb
ance Of the atmosphere, has broken
water spouts before, and he thinks the
report made by his Stating sails had
the same effect.
Once Captain Dodge, in the same
schooner, had to anchor outside Cape
Henry while on his way from Port
Tampa to Baltimore with phosphate
rock. When his mudhook Topped
overheard, little did he know what he
was going to draw aboard again when
the wind got right and he could pro-
ceed.
When the anchor came aboard and
was ready to be Gated master and
crew saw clinging to the fiukes q num-
Der of starfish, about five or six inches
| from tip to tip of the arms. Starfish
constitute no novelty to seafarers, but
these showed themselves to be some
thing out of the ordinary.
Sticking to the Shiny arms and body
Of each starfish were small flakes of
gold, or what looked pretty much like
gold. Some Of the flakes were Of fairly
good size, and Captain Dodge recog-
niZed the fact that there was a fortune
lying at the bottom Of the Atlantic all
ready to be reclaimed. He brought the
fish to Baltimore, but being too busy
carrying coal to Port Tampa and
bringing rock back to Baltimore to de-
velop his discovery, he gave his sam
Piles to a friend.
The average sailor is not supersti-
tious any more. Most Of the seamen
of today go to sea in steamers, and the
few who man the sailing ships are too
busy standing up for their rights and
trying to get more pay and better grub
to bother about signs and tokens. Thus
has the romance of the sea faded, but
the merchant marine Is somehow wor-
rying along without 1t.
The fire of st. Gilmore used to scare
the old mariners. In ancient times the
followers of the sea, particularly those
of Spain and Italy, thought 1t was a
manifestation of st. Elmo, whom they
invoked to protect them from storms.
Whenever the fire showed up II was
commonly supposed that there would
be something doing In the way on bad
weather, and that st. Elmo had lighted
up his fire to let everybody know he
was on hand to be prayed to.
Nowadays the men who sail the ships
pay no more than passing attention to
st. Elmo's fire. When 1t Is seen they
admire the display, but they have not
the slightest fear that 1t will do any
thing unseemly to the ship.
rpha LNiro nf Ly1rnn 10 nothing mora
than an electrical phenomenon. 1t al
ways occurs in heavy electric storms,
and in the North Atlantic has been Of
ten observed in snowstorms. 1t Is
caused, according to scientists, by the
electricity Of the air coming close to
the earth or sea and overcharging the
atmosphere.
The iron or steel on the arms or
yards or the metal at the truck OF a
mast attracts the electricity, and II
collects in a ball. There 1t sways and
moves with the motion of the mast un-
til the storm Is over and the atmos-
phere is cleared of its surplus electri-
city. Sometimes when the air Is
charged more heavily than usual the
electricity shows on steel stays and
rigging in such quantity that the ship
is Illuminated.
sailors used to have a wholesome
ems, or stormy petrels. Whenever
these little birds used to fly around
ship, uttering their strange little
squeaks and occasionally alighting on
the deck, Ii was regarded as harbin-
ger Of storm.
The superstition was that each bird
was the embodiment Of the soul OF a
departed sailor-one who had been
lost at sea-and that the transmit
grated spirit was warning Its living
fellows against the approach Of a gale.
Therefore, a sailor would not think OF
killing a Mother Carey's chicken or
of even touching one that fell ex-
hausted to the deck. The fact that
those who have been so bold as to
pick up the birds have found them
possessing corpSe-like smell.
strengthened the belief in transmit
grafton.
But sailors no longer have the
deeprooted respect for the stormy pc
trel. They have come to see that the
birds come to a ship in any kind OF
weather at all, and that sometimes
after they depart there is not breath
of violent wind for weeks and
months. They realize that the birds
visit the ship only because they know
that food Is aboard, and II the COOK
didn't have anything in the galley to
throw to them they wouldn't stay
around long.
1t is the same way with sharks. In
the old days a shark used to get
great deal more respect than he does
now. When a shark fell in behind a
sailing ship-a shark is too lazy to
try to keep up with steamer any
distance-the forecastle superstition
was that somebody was doomed to
fall overheard and be lost.
The shark having advance informa-
ton of the sailors mishap, was sup
posed to be following the ship for the
purpose of welcoming the sailor as
soon as he reached the water. 1t was
accordingly the aim Of the crew to
destroy the shark and thus remove
the curse, and, If the vessel was NOV
ing at a properly slow speed, so that
the shark could keep within range,
the destruction would be certain.
1t was customary to bait line and
troll the hook astern until the shark
took 1t. Then all hands would tail on
the stout line haul with might and
main and land the shark amidships.
Then various means of torture would
be used. Sometimes the shark would