A PLAGUE OF RATS AT SEA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1002, 17 November 1883, Page 4

A PLAGUE OF RATS AT SEA.

A passenger on a small steamer carryirig fruit from Leghorn to New York, which' touched at various ports iii the Mediterranean, gives an account of. a plague of rats at sea: —“My pleasure..in the dreamy languor pf an Italian summer was soon to receive a shock from what at first was simply an annoyance, but which finally became so intolerable that sleep became almost impossible, and safety could only be found at "the cost of unceasing vigilance.' On shore, if a house is filled with these beasts, there is some remedy at hand, or at least there is always the last resort of flight. But at sea there is no escape. Although more rats came aboard at each port of call nothing serious occurred until we left Gibraltar. Then the trouble began. The cargo, which consisted almost entirely ! df oranges and lemons, was, of course, {almost untouched; and when we'were three days out the .rats, be coming bolder by hunger, began to make their presence known in a manner which was decidedly unpleasant, d o give- some idea of the number it was not unusual for from thirty to fifty tb be’ caught ahd drowhed in a single day, ap.d this made no perceptible difference in the number. At first they confined their voyages to the hold and forecastle; butfinally invaded the saloon and state-rooma Going to one’s room at night was at last a feat requiring some nerve and courage—the more so as it hadgenerallyto be done in pitch darkness. Jt was not at all unusual to step down into the saloon and hear a sound as if hundredsof rats were! scampering away gt your approach. Sleep became a luxury to; be enjoyed only by day, for the state-rooms were unbearable finally. Soap, shops, trunks, Clothes : everything, in fact,, was eaten .and destroyed by this ravenous horde, rendered wild byfarriineand bold by. countless numSeveral, pf the sailors were severely bitten in their sleep, and a good sized dog,.that bad, shp.wn an intense hatred .for the pests at the beginning of the voyage, became shy of going below at night, and the, last ten days before reaching NCW York passed' his entire time on- deck. He could' not be induced to go below even in the daytime. It would not be possible to estimate the number of rails on board, but it must have reached well into four figures, and many of the sailors said they had never known in all their- voyages a ship so overrun with vermin, many being of the large Norwegian variety. When we reached NPJrYork, for days rats were seen leading the ship at all hours, many hundreds escaping to-the docks in this way. {Theyreason for .the presence of so unflsual and fierce a horde was said to be the nature of the cargo carried outTfrom America, which: consisted largely of provisions.and grain.”