Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 125, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1916 — LIKE SEA TALE OF OLDEN TIMES [ARTICLE]

LIKE SEA TALE OF OLDEN TIMES

Many Adventures Encountered on Nine-Month Sail From Manila. CARRIES MAHOGANY CARGO --•* Runs Through Three Typhoons and a Number of Ordinary Storms —Provisions Spoiled, Crew Subsists on Green Turtles. New York. —Bringing a tale of many vicissitudes, the four masted, auxiliary schooner A. J. West recently arrived here from Manila and completed an interesting nine months’ voyage which smacks of the eighteenth century. The Filipino steersman was chattering as the ship came up the bay, for he had only been in cold weather the last three days of the voyage. Such an effect did New York’s climate have on the Filipinos that it was necessary to work them for fifteen minute shifts only. With a valuable cargo of mahogany, the A. J. West, a rakish looking craft, began its voyage May 1 last and has traveled nearly 23,000 miles. She is the first ship of Philippine registry ever entered at this port. From July 11 to July 25 she went through three typhoons. If the schooner had not possessed submersible qualities nearly equaling those of a U-boat she might not have survived. About half of the mahogany was in the hold, and the rest was lashed to the deck,

which Itself was only nine inches above tije water, but the lumber was set and lashed with chains, so that it became virtually a part of the hull, adding to the schooner’s power to come up to the surface after mountains of water had broken over it. Pump Night and Day. From July 23, when the last typhoon ended, until August 8, when the schooner arrived in Honolulu, the pumps were manned night and day. Repairs and controversy with the customs officials as to whether a ship of Philippine registry had a right to fly the American flag kept the ship at Honolulu. She made her way against unfavorable winds until October, when, near the Socorro Island, off Mexico, she struck a dead calm which lasted 37 days, during which time the ship’s only progress was made by its auxiliary power. The calm was succeeded by a furious gale. Water got below decks and spoiled all the remaining provisions, with the exception of rice, which diet soon began to pall, but the ship was in a green turtle zone. During this, period Capt. F. V. Chapman’s two small children were efficient aids of the commissary department. Charles, the younger, who is a year and a half old, was too young to stand on his feet at all when the schooner left Manila. He had grown a great deal, however, before the ship reached the green turtle zone and had developed a remarkable pair of sea legs. He and his brother, Ira, just a year older, kept watch on the forward part of the schooner and could detect turtles at a great distance. Whenever the shout of "turtle” would go up the forward watch, a small boat would be put over to catch the floating food. One turtle made a meal for all hands—Captain Chapman, Mrs. Chapman and their children, four officers, nine Filipino sailors, a Japanese engineer and a Japanese cook. For fear of running short, Captain Chapman kept a stock of six or seven live turtles on board most of the time. Tots Can’t Walk -on Land. The ship reached Punta Arenas on November 28 and remained there making /epairs and taking on provisions until December 24, and for a while Captain Chapmarf had his family ashore here. The younger boy never had walked on land and the elder had forgotten how, and at every step the youngsters would lift their legs too high and lurch to the side. They did not remain in port long enough to master the technique of walking on a stationary surface. There were more bad winds from Punta Arenas to Balboa, where the schooner arrived on January 1. At the Canal zone the A. J. West had its flVst piece of good luck. Because of the ship’s light draft it was able to get through the canal, but it was just in time. The ship was in such bad conditon it was necessary to discharge the cargo at Colon and go into dry dock for repairs, and not until February 17 could the schooner leave Colon, after which she fought gales all the way here.