The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-07
QUEENS CAPRICE
 CAUSED EXILE
Dutch Skipper Had to Stay 1n London on Elizabeth's
 Grant.

London, Feb. --Bfllingsgate and the neighboring Thames side of Lon don are soon to bose a well known figure, that of g. Dutch skinner vbo thanks to the caprice exercised nearly four centuries ago by Queen Eliza oeth' has been obliged to pass the last four years in ddleness, sleeping and reading, in small barge on the Thames.
 After his long enforced holiday, Capt. W1llum van del Schaaf is to re- turn to the bosom of his family in Gaag, Holland, from which he has been for so long separated; and the envdrons of BiIlingsgate will miss for some time to come his broad smiles and humorous blue eyes.
 To appreciate the captains position one must revert to the age of pa- geantry, before the realization of Mother Sh1pton's prophecy of horse less carriages had enabled inland dwellers to know sea fish other than rare delicacy.
 One summer morning 8 Dutch sailor named Visjernonen appeared in the Thames with a cargo of eeIs. As they were Dutch eeIs of the choicest, hith- erto unknown in merry England, a portion of them was sent as gift to the palace, to be eventually served up at the royal table. So delighted was the frugal queen with this novel dish that she determined to reward Visjer- nonen.
 Her reward was 8 practical one. She granted him charter which ab- solved him from river dues and al- lotted to him and to his descendants forever a free mooring place in the Thames. But her eccentrictty added one stipulation: That if the mooring place was not always occupied by at least one of his boats the privilege should become null and void. When the present war started these privileges were being maintained by Capt. Willum. For a time he expeTi- enced no difficulties, but at last the submarine menace became so serious that no eel boats could be brought from Holland to relieve those that had been moored in the river after bringing the last shipment of eeIs. So to preserve his rights the captain has been forced to stay with his boats
 until the end of the war should bring him relief.
 That relief will soon arrive in the
 Thames, and Capt. Wil1um is prepar- ing for his long deferred return from
 exile. A representative found him in the little cabin that has for so long been his home, burning an accumula- | ation of 264 letters from his wife and 1 smiling as he turned over in his mind the prospect of reunion. The one | letter he retained was from the Dean of Lincoln, who sent the skipper his best wishes for Christmas. At his side was a book in Dutch 1 the Christian Seaman'-the object of which the captain said, was to pre-
 vent "der zailor vrom going ashore and get drunk after he had been
 spared on der stormy sea- Peter,
 the mate, was sitting on the fo'c's'le | scanning the river.
 The two have spent an uneventful ] life on the little eel boat. The only
 diversion worthy of note occurred during an air raid when several
 bombs fell into the water so close that the vessel was almost sunk Cap tain Willum has experienced many
 storms, but never one so rough, says he, as that caused by bomb. And now his days of leisure literary diversions and sleep must give place | to the strenuous life of the sailor. His
 wife and children, and two grand l children whom he has never seen, are 1 preparing & fitting welcome for him,
 as also are the inhabitants of his na-
 tive village.
 Captain Wi1lum does not bear 1 Queen Elizabeth any malice. If she
 has kept him idle for four years she
 has at any rate, given him privileges
 that are the envy of many skipper.