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Show i' ' ' IB FROM THE CAPTAIN'S LOG BOOK. Hret'ji ! ' : ; w TIl "log-book" of tho average sailing vessel is I 'hR a more commonplace record of wind and currents, HK; '. . , i JF temperature and speed, with such other entries H'ff '! Mill' as are required law Among those are scuto H'l i ' 111 ments of mishaps to sailors, records of complaints B4j . by tn0 crow 0tc Tll log-book tales of tremon- li ' ' fli dous episodes are, sometimes pitifully meagre. H;1 ' ? HEw I recall a case which came before the British Sr Admiralty and which I had occasion to watch. ' $'' Jill closely. A vessel had collided with an iceberg, H;.' f ! 'Sri' losing her masts and tlieir hamper. Afterwards, iHlf I ' Mir in a tornado sll lost her ontire crew of eight, IHf'i! . -;' ; 'fli leaving tho captain only, who was asleep below at V ' ' 'W tno time uut w.aa rescued later, with the ship's Hf ' ! m& log and otllor l)aPers- TllG log-book told tho story H.,; 'piwlfr of llIs torrlule experiences thus: ilr ' "April C. Fog.. Dead clam. Three-knot cur- Hr' 'I'm cont Nt N E" In collls,on wltl1 ers sovon 1,0118 ; '. i h " v - second dog-watch. Masts gone. BMI , i I tii "May 10 Gale S. S. EL Heavy sea. Crew gono. Bijfjjt ; - ' "Juno 2. Damn near dead. ' j lp "June 4. Picked up by Rod Star SS. Amster- BlM ' : But tlloro are philosophers on the sea who Bfjji 111 do not carry the brevity of their wit to such ex- 1 tremes. I know another captain whose logs were H'" Hj full of interesting bits, although, it is true, the H' r't1 episodes of the sea which are most likely to 5m- Ht press a landsman's mind evidently seem to him H't ifl I ''W' ' ' t0 1)8 merG commonplaces, not worthy of oxtend- Rlffi . ' ' i M ed rocor(1- Thus, as to most others of his calling ffff : ' , ' fj i a hurricane to him is merely a hurricane and de- '"'Mi serves no especial comment; and when his ship BHo j J sprung a leak, he merely measured the water In Hk . UijB'i the wells, daily, and recorded the figures in the H ' 'Hjjflg i log-book, lot the matter go at that, although his HHH ' ' f Him 1 vessel was very near to sinking. But his records IEtfl ' ( HjWj bristle with a certain kind of quaint philosophy, H . t HwrJ which, doubtless, sometimes extends beyond the ff "' ( -F 1 realm of actual fact, although he rarely makes a i;"d " i''. joke on shore. He does not like the land, and. (ii even when he is in port, sleeps, if possible, on If ' '"M board ship. Ho said to me one day: '& e ft "One trouble with your life on land is that m ; tygj , you alius have th' same front yard. With me, 1 . l ' 011 111 v 8nlP' mine changes ev'ry day, and I don'c K ! ' ! H have to mow th' seaweed." H IU SPeakinS al30ut rallway travel he re- I' )! !J f j "Lord, lord! It must be woarin' on th' nervea m ' Vftj '' oE tll commandin' officer stuok to two rails, H jj j? , like that! My, my! If he sees another craft i- if ' ' " ifl? comin' he can't wear ship an' give it room!" Hi . 'lift When I asked permission to copy from his Ef I "iffi log-books certain entries, much to my amazement ffl jS he gave the books to mo. W ' ' 1 'I v0 1)0011 keePln' 'em on th' slaolf there, over h lim: th' chart locker," he said, "bu thefy clutter it (I yW 1ip and tll cat gIts under ool' With them gono, m ' ' vw - mobbe I can teach her to sleep there." M .-I ' M' There follow some extracts from them. There H ' . are hundreds which, to mo, seem worthy of quo- 1 ' hvk' tation, but I have selected only those which, an- H I ifKi parently, were writeen when he was in thoughtful I ' moods. One of tho conditions under which he fill saV tll0m to m0 was lat 1 slloultl change the I i" ifflik spelling. I have not corrected it, but have, so if illl far aS 1 am al)l6' preservecl 1'8 spoakIng tHcct w ' Ulffir want a tablet for my wife's grave," saia m -tmWm Cap'n Obod Flint to th' dealer in fine monuments I. ' "What kind of a tablet?" asked the dealer. ' ilMI "She died of quick consumption,' said th' P iiPfml Cap'n, "and so I reckon that you'd better make 1 iffifffikl It one of them there cough tablets that I see ad- i 11 llflP vertised in th' papers." 1 fi lira ' 1 ast vy'age 1 took Lyddy, my wife, along. We I ii ililP docked at Liverpool, but, when we saw th' pa- 1 c mm pors said tlx' king would drive that day in Hyde 1 'Ii fiPffl Park, went up to London, although she had to take th' baby with her, which wo both knew would be wearin' in a crowd. But, for many years, she'd been jest crazy for to see a real, live king. After th' processfon'd passed I said to her: "Fine p'rade, wasn't it?" "Didn't notice," she replied. "Great music bands they have hero in old England, eh?" I said then. '"S that so?" said she. "I didn't notice, much." Then I realized how closely her regard must have been concentrated upon royalty, and remarked: re-marked: "King Edward re'lly is a han'some, brainy-lookin' brainy-lookin' old gentleman, even if he is a king, ain't he?" "Blessed if I know," sho made answer. "1 didn't see th king." "Well, what on earth you been a-lookin' at? says 1, quite povish, addin' that we'd come all th' way from Liverpool to London ror no otner rea son than to let her see th' king. ' I know," she said, lookin' down at i.i' baby with that queer look that never comes to any eyes but mothers', "but, 0 Obod! I didn't have no time for any of them things. Jes as We took oui places on this bench here, I found that baby's got a tooth!" Th' vanity of women! Why, it an't in it with th' vanity of men! I believe Hansen, after we picked him up, when he'd been clingin' to a plank for fifty hours, and told me that his hair, which had been quite dark when he f 1 overboard, and now was almost white, had turned gray from terror in them two awful days and nights. But later, after he had been took below and put to bed, Williams winked at me and hauled a bottle Qf hair-dye out of Hansen's bag. "That color washed out of Hansen's hair!" lia cntri And we wore two hundred miles at sea and no one near but sailors. When I road about what some self-made men are doin' I sometimes wonder if th' 'world would not have been a better place if we had left th' makin' all to God. It's mighty hard, durin' pleasant weather, to be sorry for th' sailor that had his thumb smashed durin' last night's storm. Edward Marshall in Harpers. |