| Show OIL V ELL I SEA 1 Curious Sigh t Lower nia Co t Philadelphia Press No Ive Ive nev never r seen seena a sea serpent but Ive Ive seen things more curious said an old sea captain What wa was the thin thing I ever see Wal al hard to sa say but theres the cruise I Imade made from San Diego to Monterey wih with the the yacht Foam IU Ill never forget it it though hough it was years ago I was in Sap DIego at the time for a job when a man came to tome tome me and asked if I would take a yacht up to Monterey deliver elver her ber there and take twenty men who Wanted to go up I said ald I would the terms bein good and I found I 1 could charge the laborers a decent price and nd make something out or of morning I it so Of Oft we started one bright The laborer laborers were railroad men go in up to work on a DEV road and the second day out ere l s SO sick that they swore they would run the yacht in tin to get out rr of it I finally put Dut in at San an Pedro and I let those go that wanted to and put putout putout out again wih with about six six I had never been up the and ands I s so left matters Ir in maters the hands of my m r mate whom I had shipped for the pur bright Norwegian We reached Ventura Ventura the second da daad day ad and then it began to blow and in increased increased creased but we kept at I It passed Ana ma Anacapa capa and right In the Santa Barbara Barbar t channel caught it for aU all it was worth I It blew so tat that we got al all sai sail on off the th h schooner but enough to keep her to the th i wind and the menthe landlubbers were beside themselves wih with fear Al All se seemed med to set the mate mati m crazy and he drove them to the ropes rope 3 and made every man stand and tak I I it I 1 felt that there wa was no dan danger er but the wind sUddenly picked up and am I blew inshore and te the sea rose so that tha t I up mind that the thi c yacht s stand it she took so s p many seas that she nedy nearly turned over oven I had had a a talk wit with te the mate wh a said he could put us In water wate in a half hour only h he as afraid shed swamp if he put her before ft I told him Id Id take the chance chanc i Then he shouted lug FUg on the extra extra hawser to the chaIn down dawn below UI I saw that i it Was done and the then We gradually got before the Wind vind vindI I It was awful and I 1 thought wed go godown godown down a dozen times but she se seemed med to get over I It yet we headed headd directly in inshore n shore the mate In the riggin givin dI to me at the wheel Sudden Suddenly he cred cried Luf Luff b bring ing her herup herup up and up UD she came into th the wind and if i it be been n tat that my man man was lashed to the riggi wed have hav al all gone as a big green wave swept clean over three feet dee deep S The moment she got ahead to the sea he let go the Lord knows how deep it went the chain then the hawser md and w we began to drift astern beaten back b by th the sea and wind windI I be an to think wed have to cut cutaway cutaway away when what wa was next t to a mircle miracle happened The sea went down own like magic We were sti still in a hev heavy sea I but te the surface for 0 feet about us was a as smooth as glas glass and t there ere we lay a as comfortable and dry a as you please while on each side were terrific wa waves Yes t tWell Wel Well said the old captin captain pausing a moment at the recollection the men half to death they aU all thought there was something uncanny about i it but finally when everything had been made snug the mate came down be below below low laughing over what tie called his snug harbor out to sea Were I right if the anchor holds he sad said and its pr tty sure to a as its rock rocky bottom Ive Ive known this for a long he continued You see ee this is a geat great 01 oil country and right here tw two mies miles of off shore is an oi oil spring that woud would be a fortune to some one ashore It Iti i probably a freshwater strem that rushes upward bringing oi oU wih with i it which spreads out over the surface at times covering or 50 feet feet Of coure course the oi oil keeps the sea down simple enough when you know it it Ad And so it wa was said the skIpper Ive Ive visited the place several times and some day days you see the water rising up so har hard tat that the surface looked higher than the rest and the oi oil would cover the water for OO or 30 feet around cangin wih with the he days and seasons seemingly sometimes bela ver very small agIn again large but always makin a perfectly smooth spot in which a boat could lie in a storm if she could be kent in it It Is Its about two miles of off shore as near a as I 1 can judge and on a lne line wih with the Sant Santa Barbar Barbara point nort north of the city and San Miguel island Al All this country is wih with oi oil and as phaI m and te they ar are borin boring well wells as asfar far out into the water ter a as they can get We la lay in that floating 01 oil patch al all ni night ht then the wind let up and we got ot sai sail on her and went on Od Old sailors on the Atlantic especially those on the south coat coast eat east of Flor ida know a similar spring that has I ofen often surprised seamen I It is told that a smack which hat had I saied sailed from Mystic Conn for Florida had been beaten back by the wind wInds so long that the water casks gave out and they were in bad shape But one ay te kipper rn ran in shore about a mIe mile or two fr from m the lowering a keg Into a smal small boat boat ro ed to a sot spot In the open ocen ocean which h he I had found b by cerain certain pint points On shore and tOld te the men to fl fill the Ule keg They the old man was daft but they saw him drink some of the water dipping it out of the ocean they ried t I and found that it wa wak pUre freh fresh water The captain explained that it was a s pring which came up so violently that it I t forced the salt water awa away leavina a volume of fresh water which could b be used by tose those who wished it and knew where it wa was wasYI YI I was s once saved sayed b by sea sea wee weed sid said the t sea captain down in the Falk land and l islands We were being washed on a lee shore when hen the skipper an anold anold old fellow from Nova Scota Scotia picked up upa a atine vine that wa was floating on te the water and hauled i it in until i it got pretty near a as big a as a mans by body then he made it fast fast and we swung b by i it a as asgood good a cable as you would want to s sand see and One of the things |
