Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-12-03
A WINTER VOYAGE TO CUBA
(By t. c. Moon of Tilton. N H, for
merly of Hancock)

cargo in Boston for Cienfuegos,
Cuba, and as Thanksgiving day
would come before we should be
ready to sail, the captain prepared
to observe the day in the way that
the folks at home would do, or as
near that as possible. He went to
market and purchased a good, fat
goose and ordered it sent down.
When the goose arrived, the cook in
formed the captain that he never
cooked goose, and did not know
how to bake one.
Well" said the captain, 81 know
how it is done, and l will come to
the galley and show you all about it. -
When the eventful day arrived,
the captain invited two other cap
talns that he was acquainted with to
come and have dinner with him.
There were at the table, our cap
tain, the mate, and second mate and
the two guests. The cook brought
in the goose cooked fine and brown.
Then he went back to the galley.
Our captain carved the goose. as he
was as expert with the knife. When
he served the stuffing, he smelled of
it, then tasted it. Then he laughed,
and explained as follows: THE joke
is on me. The cook did not know
how to prepare and bake a goose, so
| told him how to do it. | told him
to save the heart and liver and cut
them up and put with the other
things for the stuffing, and | forgot
to tell him to cut out the gall on the
liver. so the dressing is little bitter,
but the meat is all right. Now | will
send for the cook and have some fun
with him"
He asked me to call the steward,
and | went forward and called him.
When he arrived in the cabin, the
captain said, in his most stern man
ner:
Steward, what is the matter with
this stuffing? 1t is bitter to the taste
and smell. Now you try it and see
for yourself" The steward did taste
it. Then he said, 81 prepared the
stuffing in just the manner that you
showed me, as | told you | never had
cooked one, and did not know how
to do it.
Did you cut the gall from the
liver"
The cook looked so surprised that
it was amusing to the others. Then
he said "By gosh! Who ever heard
of a goose having gall?'
That made everyone roar with
laughter to see his surprised look,
and then that expression.
Then the captain said, at was my
fault in not telling you to cut it out. "
Well, | do not think that any of
the goose was thrown away, for
sailors have a good appetite, but that
expression of the cook was heard
many times that winter. Some one
of the crew would shout: by gosh!
Whoever heard of a goose having a
gall?"
A few days later we sailed for
Cuba. The fourth day out of port,
we were running with fair wind. |
had charge of the ship from Il to
4 p. m. About 2 p m, saw a brig
standing toward the northwest, few
IIIItS duGdu VI uS. 3AS L w do Nelltil-
ing her, she tackled ship and soon |
saw flag flying from her main peak.
| got the marine glass and looked at
her, and saw that the flag was union
down-a sure signal of distress.
at once called the captain to
come on deck, and | handed him the
glass and explained the act of the
IL OF
told me to change the course of our
schooner to run near the brig. Then
he ordered me to set our colors to
show we saw them. AS soon as the
brig saw our colors, it at once hove
the topsail to the mast and lay to for
us to come near. When we were
near the brig, our captain inquired
the cause of the distress signal.
The captain of the brig stated they
were sixty days from South Ameri-
can port and short of provisions. All
they had was salt beef and bareback,
and not much OF that. He had his
wife and two small children, six and
eight years of age, and crew of
twelve men, and he wanted some
fresh provisions if we had any to
spare.
Our captain always carried an eX-
ira supply Of provisions for just such
cases that might happen. The boat
from the brig came alongside of our
schooner, and we supplied them with
one barrel of flour, barrel of pota-
toes and some condensed milk and
other articles, and as our captain had
a few barrels of apples on board to
sell in Cuba, he gave peck of the
apples to the children. The first
thing the mate of the brig did when
he reached his vessel was to give the
apples to the children. They took a
bite, then waved their hands to us.
Then the captain thanked our cap
tain, and they hoisted the boat,
fulled the foretopsail, reversed the
flag and started for New York.
Our captain gave me the order to
keep the schooner on her former
course, and | guess that everyone on
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