A TALE OF THE SEA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2137, 4 November 1885, Page 2

A TALE OF THE SEA.

A ship's mate recently told the representatives of a leading newspaper, in one % of the great ports of the world, a remarkable story, The narravative was to the effect that the captain of a full-rigged ship of 1329 tons, went to San Francisco with his vessel, carrying a general cargo.. The ■' voyage was the reverse of profitable,' and the captain, obtaining a cargo of gram for % Liverpool, determined, as he phrased it, ] to " make somebody pay for it." Accord- * ingly, during a small storm in the Pacific, the crew were ordered to work, and with the simple faith of their class they obeyed - orders, uninterrupted by a single independent reflection. The best sails were stored away, and the oldest and poorest set beut on. These wore slashed with the knives of the active mariners, who cut some of them adrift, • and hoisted condemned ones in their places. The porta were taken out of the bulwarks, and out of the latter some planks were removed, The yards were decorated with black paint, the hawser was towed astern; and tlie old canvas was torn to terrible shreds. In this plight the vessel made its way into Valparaiso, looking as much like a wreck as anything afloat. When the anchor was cast, the crew had to be got rid of, and this was done by sending them ashore to get their clothes to the wash, and with £lss each in hand. .As the men had no wages to come to them, they did not trouble the ship again, The captain then went ashore, and with the aid of such of his officers as were pliant, made a elaim against the underwriters, who paid for damages, wrought by this created hurricane, the nice little sum of £44,000, The repairs were done as ingeniously as the wreckage had been made. A carpenter, who understood his business" was brought off by the captain, The ports and planks were dragged out \ from their hiding-places, planed off, put V back in the places from which tliey had been taken, and freshly painted, so that they looked like new. Red-hot bolts were run along the deck seams to melt the pitch, and make it look as if the vessel was newly pitched. Her • outside seams were painted so that she would appear to have been re-caulked and pained, A little paint on the yards made them all right, The hidden sails were hoisted The sailmaker, by arrangement with the captain, made one new to'-, gallant sail, and put in his bill for an entire suite. Thertfis reason to suppose that this is no "solitary instance of the swindling of marine insurance companies j ' but in the case quoted the captain and owner, who shared the lion's share of the plunder, do not seem to have had a continuance of luck. The mate, who exposes the transaction, aud whose testimony is piven as creditable, says, also, that the owner is a bankrupt, and that the clever captain is lounging about with a dock hung at his waist, very poor, and working very hard for his daily bread. Owners know that he is smart; but ho is too smart, and cannot get a berth, It would almost seem as though honesty had a commercial value,