Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-04-11
THE KILN-WOODERS.
Another Chapter in the Tale of Surry
Mariners.

(By a, T. M1lllken.)
Often these kiln-wood coasters, all
loaded and ready, would wait a week
for fair wind They never left port
unless there was a fair wind. While
thus waiting, when not pumping, the
crew hung around the village stores
and whitfield the benches, boxes and
other. seats. One store-keeper had to
fill all the seats full of nails to pre-
vent the destruction of his furniture
They whitfield everything but the
stove. That they covered with tobac-
co Juice. This was before the mod
ern cuSpidOr.
When was boy / made voyage
to Rockland on one of these foatlng
sleeves, as passenger. | heard the
CAPTAIN say: Guess we had better
get under way; the wind has backed
in to the nor'ed" We got under
way, and the commanding officer
said: I'VE will wing her out for
Rockland." We did. Bartletts
island, Long island, Tinkers island,
were pointed out to me as we sailed
along. AS we made Long Island
light, the captain noticed in the sky
a black cloud about as large as a
blanket With trembling voice he
said: I'VE are going to have a
blow, and the sooner we reach har-
Dor the better" We made for
Naskeag harbor, where we lay for
twenty-four hours waiting for the
blow''-the blow that didn't come.
The chief officer remarked that he
considered Naskeag the safest har-
Dor on the coast excepting the pool
at Colts island.
Finally we left Naskeag with fair
wind. AS we approached Deer
island, there appeared great num-
Der of lobster-trap buoys. The skip
per was a very pious man, but he had
a way of running down these lobster
buoys, then piously removing the
contents of the traps.
The mate and | were busy remov-
ing a few of these greenish, shiny,
wriggling, squirming creatures from
a trap, when suddenly to ourNhorror,
not fifty yards distant, in a small
boat, appeared the lobsterman. He
was savage AS preliminary he
gave us broadside of profanity that
made our teeth rattle. Then he
pictured us as the meanest, lowest
specimens of humanity that ever
sailed the sea. We didn't dispute
him, for we were dumb and speech
less. Robbing lobster traps APP
peared to me as rather an unpleasant
business.
For long time no one spoke. The
mate was at the pump and the skip
per sat on the rudder-head and |
steered. He appeared to be in
stupor, as if he had something on his |
mind. At last he said, as though his |
was being tormented, |
'Guesswe had better let those lobster
traps alone after this. It's hard, |
though, to pilot a schooner of this |
size among these islands without |
fouling a lobster buoy"
The third day out we made Fox
island. Here we anchored, and here |
we remained for five days-five long, |
tedious days. But we had a good |
Iibrary-a library that consisted of |
he bible and Robert B. Thomas al
manac. The captain tackled the |
bible, | the almanac, and the mate
the pump. l read everything in Rob-
ert B., from the authors name on
the cover to "HousehoId Hints" on
hc idSl pdSt. hS captain lSeu W |
me, thoughtfully and carefully, four
charters from Leviticus, two from
Deuteronomy, and one of Lamenta-
tons of jeremiah. This, | suppose,
was to cheer me up.
One day, looking over his glasses,
he said to me, in very fatherly |
fashion; "You are boy, and you
ought to have some religious in
every day. If you don't,
the chances are that you will be in
Jail before you are twenty years old"
with Jail in this world |
and fire in the next, do you wonder |
that | was converted in early life.
On the fifth day the cook made the |
sad announcement that the grub"
was getting low. We lowered the
boat and went ashore We found a
store about the kind I had been ac-
3ustomed to. Loafers were sitting
On nail kegs, counters and even on
he scales. The store-keeper knew
human nature though; he called us
Ill captain" even to me. We car
'ied aboard a supply of -four. pork
and molasses.
The ninth day we anchored in
Rocllland | had never seen a city
before, and was impressed with its
Lime kilns, warehouses,
stores, homes, stretched into the dis
lance as far as | could see.