A Tale of the Sea.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 134, 4 June 1872, Page 7

A Tale of the Sea.

The following tough yarn is related by the : writer of “ Round About New Zealand,” in the Australasian, as a story told to him along the coast of New Zealand ; “I was engaged one day washing and painting the outside of the ship , in which vessel 1 was serving as a seaman. “ Three of us were on a kind of raft slung | near the keel of the ship, when one of those sudden and violent squalls came on us which are common enough off the Cape. Ere we I could hand up our pots and brushes, a heavy ; sea struck the vessel midships ; my two mates caught hold of a loose rope and swung themselves aboard, but before 1 could follow their example a second sea struck the raft I was standing on, which parted from the vessel, | and grasping the plank firmly, I found my- | self cut away, and fast floating astern, a rain mist completely hiding me from observation, and in a few minutes a quarter of a mile se- I parated me from the vessel, whose double- i reefed topsails were barely visible as each j mountainous wave rose and fell under me. : It did not take me long to ascertain my hope- I less position, and with what lashings T could spare from the planking I lay on, or rather | grasped, I made myself fast, and reflected on j my chances of escape from starvation, or what I seemed to mo more horrible, a feed for the | sharks, which swarmed in those latitudes. I Night came on suddenly ; wearied, faint, and ! washed by every wave, I lay watching the ■ stars, and at last exhausted,' I fell asleep, j The rays of the rising sun woke me early next! morn, and standing on the raft, clinging to a I rope made fast and around me, 1 gazed around. “ Not a sail, nothing but a waste of waters, and with bleached lip and desponding heart I lay down in utter despair. I do not know how long this dreamy reverie lasted, but I shall never forget the sensations I experienced in feeling a heavy bump against my raft, my I first thought being that 1 was happily aground, i On looking over the planking my blood curdled, for right under me, paddling gently along, I saw a huge blue shark, a thorough monster, every now and then rising and bumping under me, as though vexed at my I delay in furnishing him with a fresh-meat I feed. This monster kept me company all! that long wretched day, now alongside, then ; underneath, disporting with my feelings by j occasional displays of his belly and accom- j paniments of rows of glistening teeth. For; hours I sat, shrinking at his approach, until | nerved by his familiarity, I took my knife, I which fate had preserved to me, tore up a | piece of my planking and lashed it to the I end, passing the time by prodding the monster as opportunity offered. Growing bolder in my frenzy, and as the sun was setting o’er the sea, leaving me cold, hungered, and feverish from thirst, I thought of an idea common enough to us sailors when larking with | sharks in becalmed weather, viz., to use up some of my rope in the shape of a noose which, if slipped over his sharkship’s head, must make fast at his tail and sling him. When the noose had been made fast at its end to my raft, 1 slung it alongside and waited the result. 1 had not long to think about the comicality of the thing, for the shark swam through ere darkness set in, and in an instant sped on quickly. The noose ; worked true, and the next moment found me ; being towed at something like ten knots : | the shark in evident fright, and both of us considerably knocked with our comical relationship. It was a bright starry night as we drove through the phosphorus ; now and then the brute jibbed, then headed on me, and away we went off the track in opposite directions, the shark giving me opportunities for a ‘ prod ’ with my spear-knife, a ohance I rarely lost, until wearied out, I lay down,

leaving it to the skipper to make his own longitude. I knew ere long after the tightening up of my waist rope I fell asleep, and to this day I don’t known which funked it most, for I lay worn out with watching, and the shark put on all sail with fright at the sliffness of his screw and the rude progs I dealt at his stern as chance offered ; anyhow I awoke, hearing shouts, men’s voices in confusion mixed, and the sight of the stern-board of a large ship right over my head. “ I remember one man calling out, ‘Here’s a dead body on a raft,’ and I sat up, giving that man as good a fright as 1 had got. A dozen voices rang out, “A shark, a shark ! Look out!’ as I greedily seized a rope thrown me. The ship I was taken on board was bound for Australia, and the story is soon told. The shark had found this vessel’s track in the night, and followed in its wake as those critters will. The sailors were already preparing for my preserver’s capture, but after hearing my almost incredible deliverance, left his sharkship to his glory, and he paddied about us all day, leaving us at sundown. I came on to Australia in the vessel.” This man of the raft as depicted above is now a very popular captain in the New Zealand trade ; he solemnly silenced my incredulity by assurances of gratitude for sharks in general, and his name is similar to places where sharks occasionally hide, beneath timber or “ under wood.”