QUEER CARGOES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1585, 31 October 1912, Page 4

QUEER CARGOES.

WILD BEASTS CAUSE TROUBLE ON SHIPBOARD. A POLAR UEAR'S FRENZY. What a tempting theme, that of llio cargoes of the (lend centuries! To surnisc the homeward-bound merchandise of ho vessels which Hie JOlizabethan liavipi tors steered info Plymouth, or the rich Hast Indian stores which the round-bellied Dutch trader brought back to Rotterdam! The writer penned recently tlio jiro;pectus of a wreck-raising, company, and «w mention of a long-lost wine ship juried in the sands; that cargo, if obtniji>t|, would fetcli fabulous prices. But, as i fact, the merchandise which travels over ho seas to-day is (|iiite as strange as that vhich lies "all sunk beneath the wave" iff tlie Texel, 'or the we.st const of Scotand, or along the eastern shores of Af--icu—all favourite spots for those who vould bring up buried treasure. Tlie proprietors of travelling menage•ies often cause lunch misgiving to tho shipmaster by the cages of wild beasts vhich they send aboard, and should bad veatlier p'revnil, there may arise trying contingencies to be faced if the occupants if these cages get loose. The question of 'cod supplies, too, is not easy to face. I 'ancy that some skippers who have done jusiness for Mr. Jfagenlieck, in bringing lome for liini wild creatures from Last Vfrica for his famous open-air menage•io could tell some queer tales of the dilii:ultics they have had to meet. Vessels arriving in Liverpool from «est \frica often bring hundreds of monkeys ind parrakeets, and some of tlie queerest cargoes ever bound for London luyer lave been those consigned to .lamrach s. If you want to catch a glimpse of a vild beast at sea look at one of Kipling s ihort stores entitled "Bertran and Blimp ; le tells of an orang-outang caught somewhere in the Malayan Peninsula, and *oing to England. "For four d&y s he lad struggled, veiled, and wrenched at he heavy bars of .his cage without ceasug. and' had nearly slain a lnsear 111jautious enough to come within reach 01 lie great hairy paw." . Maior P. G. Jackson, leader of the rackson-Harmsworlh Polar bxpodihon, ells of tlio struggles of a huge polar bear vhich had been captured alive and nought 011 board. The animal 111 its liny >urst open the bars at the top of the cage, mil almost succeeded in taking chaige ot he ship. An opportune blow on the. Head vith a hammer, however, caused hun to Irop back'into the cage, and he was kept it check until spars were lashed oyer the ijierture he had made by crumpling up. ' 'in *tho event of fire breaking out on ward ship, gunpowder and ire awkward items to figure among tlio cargo. The ivrifer went out to Malta on t steamer carrying ten tons of powder. To load this, she went into the lowei -caches of the Thames, and the stun was jrought alongside in early- morning; >owcier must be put aboard 111 daylight, md both steamer and barge were flying he red danger fiag. The galley fire was ;>ut out, the engine-room fires were baulc>d, two inspectors watched over the slow - i"o in a specially boarded-off partition in ;he hold; tlio powder was in green-painted ivooden boxes, and when it was discharged >n arrival similar precautions were taken. Coffee sounds an innocent substance to carry 011 board ship, but Clark llussell •alls green coffce-berrios "fifty thousand times worse than a freight of jpnpowder mixed with infernal machines. this is in account of the deadly vapour given off, ind his story tells of a Dutch brig, thus loaded, in which practically all her crcw svent stark raving mad, and died before die two survivors were picked up. .■ Danger may arise, if the seas are rougli, from bulky cargo breaking adrift,, and 1 nave noticed that heavy guns, big teak baulks, and boilers, figuring as cargo, were ilways lashed or chained with very great In the stowage of wool, tight packing is necessary; and anyone who has been 111 Australian ports will have noticed the "wool-screws" and their use. lho bales ire placed loosely in position, and thjji x screw, caused to work outwards at botti ?mL<? by means of a handle, forces sumiicut space for a larger one to 1>& inserted; this process is repeated till there is room for another balo, and so tho soft load becomes pressed firm. In tho old wooden 'clippers/' cases are known in which tno pressure ha 9 been so great that the timers of the hull have been, burst open. Steamers coming from 2?ew Zealand win sometimes contain as many as ten thousand carcasses of sheep and u hundred thousand rabbits. Needless to say, there must be a refrigerating plant oil board to keep cold thr, space undor hatches where the mutton carcasses are suspended. I believe such ships carry a lad known as the "snow boy" or "Snowy, whose business it is to keep white flake* caused by tlio refrigerator appliance? from collecting below. Tho writer 'lias seen at Hobart, lasmania, cases of apples lying waiting 011 the wharf bv .the thousand, and lie oner sailed from Hamburg in one ol the brcal Central steamers which was full up ol baskets of plums, even though there were about a hundred thousand baskets tI'JJ waiting to be loaded. Ships havo sometimes to carry extrv ordinary collections of people as passoneers Pome years ago the Salvation Army derided to open up a matrimonial burc-ui, in Canada, I think, and sent out u caig'J consisting of waitresses, factory girls, domestio servants, and farmers daughters! I travelled once from .Malta to Alexandria with an Arab circus troop numbering over eighty, of whom the rank 'mil file camped in tents 011 deck; they kept themselves in form by turning cart-wheels and walking on their hands between the hatches, and this even though there might be some sea running. \v hen liar ruin Iwought his troupe'to Europe, lie chartered a special steamer, and the cargo was therefore, composed of as weird a company of human freaks as ever sailed the sens. . „ ... , . One remembers Captain Ivettle 6 diflicnlties with his pilgrims in tho Red Sea. The writer met in Quebec a port doctor, who had had to go aboard a ship which brought to Canada some hundreds of Ru«inn Dukobhors, and his account of its verminous state was eimply appalling. Much might be written of the cargoes of bullion brought across the seas; not long since the papers recorded tho arrival in an .English port of a liner which bore a hundred and sixty tons of Mexican dollars packed in kegs, as well as silver bars valued at seven hundred thousand pounds.—"Weekly Scotsman.