Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-01-26
Parrot Saved Sailor


In addition to furnishing unparal-
leled opportunities for adventure a
sea-faring life often appears to slim
ulate the imagination to such a con-
siderable degree so that there is al
ways an abundant production of sea
yarns The following is an account
Of the adventures o. the crew of the
British freighter Strathspey as
truthfully related by some Of the
men when the good ship touched at
New York some months ago, after a
13O-day voyage from Glasgow via the
Cape of Good Hope and the Suez
Canal:
The Strathspey carried a compile
ment Of % officers and men of whom
only eight were whites, the remain
der being Chinese. Arabs and Las
cars. In addition to these % men,
mention should be made of Toxic, a
green Brazilian parrot, who has no
small part in the strange adventures
of the voyage. Toxic had remark
able working knowledge of Portu-
guese in his vocabulary were the
words eight bells"
While the vessel was sailing off
Port Natal. Chinese stoker named
Wing Kee was standing In a hatch
way when he lost his balance, falling
backward into the hold, and was IN
stantly killed. Toxic saw him go and
called out loudly, EIGHT bells" The
stokers were much affected at the
tragic death of Wing Kee and inform
ed the captain that it was impossible
for them to work in the hold because
Wing KEGS ghost haunted that part
of the ship. So, for three days no
coal was fed into the ships furnaces
and she simply drifted about in the
Indian ocean. :,
AT length the captain persuaded
the stokers to return to their duty
and the Strathspey got under way
again. off Whampoa in the CAPTION
river a Chinese coolie who was work
ING with the cargo accidentally got
in the way of a heavy iron cham
which struck him on the head, killing
him instantly. As he fell overheard
into the water Toxic called out, "elght
bells"
One morning while sailing off the
African coast Mohammed Singh, an
Arab sailor fell overheard from one
of the boats which he was cleaning.
The watchful parrot happened to see
the poor fellow go and began shrek
ING "eight bells" so vociferously that
the officer on the bridge stopped the
ship and ordered a boat lowered to
rescue Singh.
The men in the boat rowed rapid
ly toward the unfortunate sailor, who,
being a powerful swimmer, was also
making rapid Roadway toward the
boat. Just as the rescuers were get
ting ready to haul him into the boat
frightful commotion was heard IN
the water behind him and the men
were Mortified to see huge green sea
serpent, with widely descended nav,
making rapidly for Singh. Hearing
the noise and feeling the hot blast of
the serpent's breath on the back of
his neck, Singh turned in the water,
took one hasty glance and then with
a fervent "Allah Kerim" he plunged
desperately for the boat, hoping to
reach il before the green monster
behind him could seize him.
Doubling to the oars the sailors in
the boat shot the craft toward Singh
and quickly seized him, hauling him
breathless into the boat just as the
serpent's jays snapped to take him in.
The snake, enraged at losing its prey,
bit the rudder off the boat. AS Chow
der Loll who was steering saw the
rudder torn away in the powerful
Jaws he fell over in a faint and Toxic,
looking on from the Strathspey's
deck, piped in loud, ringing tones,
"eight BELLS" Using an oar at the
stern the men quickly rowed the boat
alongside the ship and all were haul
ed safely on board. A greenish OBJ
ject was deserted some distance away,
steering in an easterly direction at so
knots an hour. The crew agreed that
this was the rctreating sea serpent
which had been frightened away by
Toko's brave announcement of eight
BELLS"