Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1899 — FACTS ABOUT STOWAWAYS. [ARTICLE]

FACTS ABOUT STOWAWAYS.

Persons Who Steal Their Passage Over the Atlantic Ocean.* “I am not given to losing my temper,” said one captain to the writer, “but I confess that when on one voyage we found no fewer than fourteen men had managed to stow themselves away below I felt Inclined to give then all a ducking, and said so.” This was the captain of an Atlantic liner, a man to whom the stowaway is a perpetual nuisance. Though the strictest watch Is kept to prevent his getting on board, it is rare for a trip to be made without one or two specimens of the dead-head fraternity being carried, willy nilly, free. Of course, this is not done entirely without, connivance on the part <Jf somebody on board the ship. Tbe stokers are not infrequently the guilty parties. With their or others’ aid the stowaway gets down into the hold and finds a dark corner in which to secrete himself until tbe vessel is at sea. If then he is discovered, and set to work, he does not mind. It is not work he is' afraid of, but the being without work, and the bread that accompanies it When it Is considered what an enormous thing an Atlantic liner is, and how many dark places there are in her vast interior, it is not surprising to hear that scores of men during the course of a year get free passages across the herring pond in one ship or another—and this though the steamer never leaves port without a search being made to see that no unauthorized person is on board. Many are discovered, in bunkers and other such places, and, of course, carefully conducted ashore, but not a few manage to elude detection, and, of course, once away from land little is to be feared from discovery. There is a curious notion prevalent among some sailors. It is that i stowaway is a lucky passenger to carry. Asked once why It was, an old salt answered that he never heard of a ship being lost that had a stowaway on board. Of course, he had an Instance In point to relate. It was to tie effect that a stowaway was discovered in hiding on an outgoing vessel at the last moment and ejected. Shaking his fist at the captain, the would-be voyager cried: “I’m glad you’ve turned me out of your rotten ship; neither she nor you wdll live to see Christmas Day, while I shall.” The prophecy proved a true one. The vessel weut down within a week of sailing, and only the second officer and a few men were saved. —Cassell’S Magazine.