Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 6, 1903, Page 28

Scenes at BHE WAS SEEING THE “MIDWAY" SIGHTS, Iowa State Fair [ What the TAKING THE PRIZE BULL'S PICTURRE. Staff Artist Saw Besides Agricultural Products ONE OF THE PRIZE WINNERS, (Copyright, 1903, by Albert Sonni:hsen.) T IS usually an accepted fact that aboard cvery salling ship at sea the captain s an autocratic ruler whose word is the only law, and from which there is no appeal until the ship reaches port, This is true, but unde: autocratic governments men learn to be cunning. Juck scldom resorts to open violence In resisting an unjust order, but he has many ways of circum- venting It ' There was once a captain who had the reputation of being exceptionally miserly with ship's stores. He doled out the weekly allowance of pations himself, taking off one spoonful of sugar where the scale seemed ever so slightly to be favoring the sailor. He kept the key to the storeroom under his pillow at night, and when he came up on deck to observe the weather he took it with him. In warm weather he mide his men go about barefooted, so that they should not wear out the decks, When the ship that this skipper com- manded got into the troples one voyuge, an epidemio of cockroaches and various other obnoxious Insects developed in the fore- castle and made It Imp« ble for the men to sleep In their bunks Now, paint is always a sure cure for troubles of that sort, so the sallors applied to the bos'n for some paint with which to renovate the interior of the forecastle But, ac- cording to rules aboard this particular ship, the bos'n referred the men to the mate, and the mate referred them to the eaptain. So they went aft and asked the eaptain for paint, “What fo he asked, “Forecastle's full o' bugs,” explained the eldest seaman. “Bugs! You must want my precious paint to destroy hu-,:ni‘" exclaimed the skipper in- dignantly. “Not if I know it. You fellers Just get to work and catch the bugs with your hands and throw them overboard, or hit them with belaying pins.” 8o the men had to return for'd with no more satisfaction than that. But that night, on the still night watches, they laid a plot against the skipper that should bring him around to their views, The next day the men captured a numbher of cockroaches and carefu.ly wrapped them up alive in @ small scrap of paper. In the afternoon the man who relieved the wheel took this paper with him in his pocket, and when nobody saw him, carefully emptied it through one of the windows of the cap- tain's cabin, Next day all hands did not have to walt long before they saw the captain come on deck with a stormy fuce. The bugs had done thelr work. That evening everybody was called aft, “Men,"” said the skipper, "I have decided that you shall have the paint aftes all. I'll glve you a whole tin, but be careful to leave enough to paint my cabin afterwards.” The ship was never again bothered by cockroaches during the voyage, Another case in point happened aboard an English tramp steamer just starting on u long voyage. The captain had bought a lot of inferi to substitute tlose of better quali that he should have bought and pocketed the difference in price or course, the men growled and came aft to protest in a body, but the skipper insisted that they were getting what the laws of England allowed them. As the men saw that complaints had no effect, they dc- cided upon another course, The next morning tho skipper came om stores AND THEY LIKE WATERMELON, TOO. Taming the Autocrats of the Sea deck, and on the white paintwork of the cabin found painted In black a huge skull and crossbones, and underneath in big letters the word *Hunger.” Of course he fliw 1nto a rage and demanded that the offender present himself, but the sailors only chuckled to themselves. The following day the captain came on deck to find a still more aggravaung sign of disapproval of his crew. From the mainmast, nailed to the bare pole, fut- tered the rame emblem that had decorated his cabin—a pirate flag, the jolly roger, He ordered a man to remove it at once, but the sailor protested that spirits had nailed the flag to the mast, and he for one would not interfere with their work. One by one all the men raised the same objec- tion. As ships were passing almost daily, it was Impossible to leave the piratical cmblem there long, so ncxt night it disap- peared, it being supposed that the second mate shinned up to remove it. xt the steering grew bad, and the firomen hardly kept up enough steam to Kcep the engines running. The captain almost went insane with rage, but that T: no solution to his troubles. Finally > gave In and suppled the men with ra- from the cabin stores, and the ship's troubles ceased forthwith, Many skippers who have had a mania for trimming sails and pu'ling ropes when not necessary have been cured of that failing most effectively, Scamen hava one standing remedy Mysterious rents appear in sails that the wind could not have torn, Most unscaman'ike Kknots, that Alexander himself could not have cut, are found in ropes that should have no knots in themn. This sort of thing wiil bring any skipper to terma Then there arc captains. who are cranky on the subject of steering . One old skip- per 1 once knew was particularly objce- tionable to his men on this point. When down in his cabin h2 would watch the clouds through a porthole, and if they jerked back and forth ever so little he would come roaring up on deck, demand- ing the -blood of the man at the wheel. To steer for-a two hours' trick on that ship when the skipper was awake was no joke, One day the men concelved a plan that should teach this old sea dog u lesson. He had been down in his cabin, when a sudden lurch brought him romping on deck with bis customary profanity. With a yell he made a dash for the steering compass. The card was as steady on its course as though nalled there. The old man looked surprised and then hurt. This happened several times, and each time the captain found the clecuds had lied. He examined the compass stand carefully, then went thoughtfully away, shaking his head. Finally, after some days, he became more subdued and troubled the man at the wheel no more. Had he examined one of the scroll work designs of the cabin skylight Just opposite the compass he would have found there, well concealed, a large piece of steel. That would have solved the probe lem that both bothered him and incidentally accounted for the wonderfully fine steers. ing that was being done. Nothing so excites a sailor's resentment as a captaln’s refusal to advance spending money in port When a ship 1s alongside & dock the men naturally want to g0 ashore of evenings after knock-off and see the town or city, or whatever the place (Continued on rage Sixtcen)