Las Vegas optic., 1912-06-19

cook cooked US a twenty-five.pound
Westphalia ham.
"On July 10, at seven bells Of the
forenoon watch. in a nasty sea. we
spoke the Nova scotia brig t. Cof-
fiji OF Windsor. from Philadelphia.
Her skipper put his trumpet to his
lips and twice called out: DO you
want to be taken Off? No; we're all
right. We don't want TO be taken
off, Captain Mikes answered.
What in hell is it shouted the
Blue Nose skipper.
We're the American raft Nonpa-
reil. bound from the United States
for Southampton All welll' yelled
Mikes.
Il never did like kerosene. was
always afraid of it, and am now. l
was at the tiller and Miller was cook
ing. The wick blazed up and the
whole stove was in flames With the
main sheet took hitch in the rope
handle in the end of the zinc-Iined
box in which the stove was kept
Throw the damned thing overheard
yelled George tossed the whole
business into the sea. The box
turned over in the swells and bumped
our kerosene stove into the Atlantic.
Il cut down tin bake pan, turned
upside down tin bread box within
the bake tin and made some tubes
of strips of tin for three wicks. The
new stove would not burn kerosene
and we used sperm oil. We had
plenty Of twine and much of my time
thereafter was spent in plating wick
ing. The sperm was soon exhausted.
A MongreI Hem
"At two bells Of the second dog
watch one July day we spoke the Ger
man ship Johannah Wilhemina, from
Baltimore for Bremen, fourteen days
out, with passengers.
care you short of anything in
quired her captain.
"We said we were short Of coffee
and oil. In his own boat he sent US
fifteen pounds Of coffee, several gal
Ions of sperm oil, a gallon and a half
jug of gin and mongrel hen. We
sent some jars Of preserved fruit to-
the skipper and the passengers of the
Wilhelmina.
I'm those days did not drink, but
l do now. So every time turned in
l slept on the pug of gin. That mon
grel hen had more sense than some
men. she roasted on the cook box
most of the time, and later went with
us and the raft into the theatrical
business.
Zone midnight when l had left the
tiller / sat or the cook box, sailor-like,
to have a bite, and something fetch
ed me sound blow on fhe back of
the head. 1 reached down 'on the
webbing between the cigars to grab
flying fish, but it Topped back into
the water. In clear weather, at noon,
we almost ran down whale that had
sounded dead ahead
Lionzed at cowes.
when we made Southampton j.
R. Stebbing, president of the Cham
ber of Commerce, welcomed us, and
the American consul, Captain Britton
gave us a reception. Commander
White who afterward became chiei
naval constructor for the British
navy, took great interest in thu
raft, and, with his tender, towed vi
over to the Royal Yacht club regatti
at Cowes. He went too fast and th'
Nonpareil was almost swamped
1--WE went aboard the royal yach
Victoria and Albert, and the skippe
said: 4 suppose you have supply Q
good American Bourbon We hat
SIR replied Captain Mikes, but it
all gone The Nonpareil was wor
der to the lords and ladies aboard tn
yachts at Cowes, and they contribu
ed literally.
"We made a three months engag'
ment for the raft, the hen and ou
selves to show at the Crystal palac
at Sydenham. My partners were ma
ried men. They sold out to an Anne
ican, a Confederate soldier, who ha
gone to England, and rolled up tt
raft and packed it and shipped
with the hen. for Reynolds wa
works at Lions Gate, Liverpool, Il
ten months. l sailed up the Merst
on the Nonpareil, and the Liverpo
Mercury said that while the Gre
Eastern, then lying in the strea
e was the biggest thing afloat the No
e pareil was the smallest.
= Manufacture Resumed.
after a while the Nonpareil CEASE