The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-11-22
Captain of Liner CenSured for
Setting New Time.
Commander Of Steamer Illinois Tells
How He Arrived Day Ahead OF
Schedule, and Is shanshaied
to Land Job.

New York.-It is perfectly possible
to shanghai" a seaman and make him
work on the land, although the possi-
bilities appear never to have occurred
to writer's OF sea stories. Anyway, 1t
not only could happen, but 1t did hap
pen, and Capt. Harry Hartman, post
master, and most prominent busi-
ness man in Massapequa, Long Is
land, is the man to whom 1t happened
Captain Hartman followed the sea
for over 40 years, rising from appren-
tice to the position Of captain OF one
OF the Red Star Line steamers.
One day he came to Massapequa to
visit his brother-in-law, who was en-
ployed by a real estate company here.
While on his visit he got into conver-
sation with the owner of the little
store and postofice, near the railroad
station. The storekeeper and post
master expressed himself as being
dissatisfied with the place, and yearn-
ed for the coming of some one who
would purchase the store. In a spirit
of fun the captain offered him an alb
surdly low price for the store-and
the offer was accepted.
Not willing to back out of his bar
gain, the captain closed the deal then
and there and decided to install his
wife as storekeeper and postmistress
He found that Massapequa's rapid
growth provided more work than his
wife could attend to- so, with a leave
Of absence from the steamboat line
he is still at his little Massapequa
store, selling postage stamps and po-
tatoes, and occasionally hustling va
bag of mail upon a train.
The captain is going back to his
first love, the sea, but he says, when
he brings to mind some of his anus.
ing experiences as postmaster, he de
Cides that work as postmaster in
Long Island village Is almost as ex-
citing as anyone could wish for
But, for all that, when Captain Har-
riman tells how he came to take up
his work in Massapequa, he solemnlJ
insists that Ae was shanghaied into
the job of baing postmaster.
Captain Hartman, whose last com
mand was on the Illinois, the Red star
Line steamer which plies between
Philadelphia and Antwerp, was a per
sonal friend of Captain Smith OF me
ill-fated Titanic. On the day the IL
tanic sank, Captain Hartman and
Captain Rogers, late Of the steamship
Freissman, were planning a vacation
in Maine on which Captain Smith was
expected to accompany them.
The Illinois, anyone can see, is the
ship of ships in the eyes of the post
master-captain
THAT'S the ship that beat the Phila-
record" he said' with
a grin and a chuckle, but the com
pany never seemed to approve OF the
wav we beat it. 1t was the eighty
fourth trip Of the boat, and the wealth
er was glorlous-you wouldn't nnd
more favorable conditions for trip
in a lifetime. When l took my OBJ
servations the second or third day, l
found that we were about 16 hours
ahead of the schedule. l called up
the engineer ana ne sdlu Ihdt ~ Ca
ira amount of coal had been burned,
and we decided If we didn't have to
use any extra coal, to beat the rec
ord-if we could.
Anyway, we we're due in Philadel-
phia on Monday and we steamed in
on Sunday, "a hours ahead Of sched-
ule. | had a thousand emigrants on
board and no arrangements had been
made to receive them before Monday
oh, we threw things into a merry
mess. AS l came into the dock, l
called out to Captain Fuller, our ma
rine superintendent:
Where shall go with this boat?
You can go to hades with her he
yelled back. What business have you
got in here today?'
when | reported at the offices of
the company, they called me down for
bringing the boat in so far ahead Of
time, but showed them my orders to
proceed with all possible Dispatch
although they didn't seem to want or
ders carried out so literally"