Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1879 — Capt. Boyton’s Encounter With a Shark. [ARTICLE]

Capt. Boyton’s Encounter With a Shark.

“I have experienced some rough usage,” said Capt. Boyton. “and have had some very narrow escapes while testing my armor in the waters of Europe, but,” he said, modestly, “I don’t imagine it would be of much interest now to your American readers to recount them, as they have already appeared in print, in one form or another. My encounter with a shark, however, while crossing the Strait of Messina in 1877, will long be remembered by me and those who accompanied me on that eventful trip. 1 don’t believe I would have undertaken the trip had it not been for the rumors that were in circulation that I dare not try it. The waters of this famous strait are alive with shark of the fiercest description at almost all seasons of the year, and, before my venture, it was said that hut one man had ever succeeded in crossing it alive, and this was no less a personage than Saint Francisco, who, as the legend has it, threw off his cloak and passed over dry-shod. When it was given out that I was to make the attempt to swim over in my armor, old fishermen and the natives gave me up as either insane or a man in an alliance with the devil. When all my arrangements were perfected, on the 16th of March of that year, I entered the water during the morning, accompanied by two boats filled with members of the Italian press, officers of the Marine Department, and others, each of whom was thoroughly armed to protect me in case I was attacked bv the man-eat-ers, as the sharks of the straits are jdstly termed. The water was somewhat rough and the current fearfully strong and hard to battle against, but I paddled away with all my strength, and succeeded in making the middle of the strait without accident or encountering any of my expected foes, although the people in the boats sighted several and shouted to me to be on my guard. All at once, when near a crested wave, I saw a dark object shooting under the water toward me, and knew that it was a shark. I raised my head and the upper part of my body from the water, ana, drawing my long and sharp knife which I usually carry, awaited his coming. I had to wait but a second, as the monster was then on to me. I saw him turn on his back and open his jaws, and then I made a lunge for his white belly with my knife. Tlie blade penetrated the skin a short distance from the mouth, and as soon as the shark felt it he made a turn with lightninglike rapidity and hit me a fearful blow on the side with his tail, breaking one of my ribs. 1 still retained my hold on th? handle of the knife, resolved not to lose it, and was drawn under the water by the shark. When I arose to the surface my antagonist was not to be seen, but it was evident he had got all he wanted. I was not frightened in the least by the fish, but I confess I had considerable fear of the men in the boats as they fired wildly at the shark, and I narrowly escaped the bullets intended for him. Well, to make a long story short, I succeeded in making the trip all right. The fishermen had never heard of such a thing before and dubbed me Saint something and looked upon me with awe.”

Capt. Boyton describes his trip across the Straits of Gibraltar as one among the most dangerous as well as important of his countless feats. He took the water at Tarif a, the southernmost -port of Spain, and in fact of Europe, on the 26th of March, 1878, at ten minutes to eight o’clock in the morning, steering southwest, the weather being calm and the sea smooth at the time. He battled with the fierce currents, watched for the sharks, drifted here and there throughout the day, and finally made shore in the Bay of Tangier on the Barbary Coastj-at five minutes to one o’clock on the fotkMFHig morning. His longest trip was macle" on the River Tagus, from Toledo to Lisbon, this occupying twenty-seven days. The Captain describes the scenes along the banks of this river as unusually interesting. The American flag which he displayed was seen for the first time by the natives. On arriving at Lisbon he was received by thousands of people, and was very warmly welcomed.— N. Y. Graphic.

Or the 191,000,000 inhabitants of British India, their religious denominations are given as follows: Hindoos, 139.343,820; Sikhs, 1,174,436; Mohammedans, 40,867,125; Buddhists and Jams, 2,822,851; Christians, 897,682; others, 5,417,304, and “ religion? not known,” 532,227. The united military forces of the native States are estimated at 300,000 men. The gross revenues of the Chiefs amount to £16,000,000, and they pay £275.000 tribute money to the British Government. The British receipts and expenditures for India average about £50,000,000 a year The Empress’ Army numbers 200,000, of which 70,000 are English troops. To these number may be added 190,000 native police, who also perform frontier service. ' . Hekk Pecelar says that the total coal production of the world for 1875 was 315,351,833 tons; Great Britain raised 149,476,769 tons; Germany and the United States each, 53,294,460 tons; France, 18,605,758 tons; Belgium, 15,767,591 tons; Austria and Hungary, 14,821,536 tons; Asia, 4,587,240 tbilß; and other parts of the world, 5,504,019 tons. Better it is to sit on a barrel at the corner grocery with contentment than to repose in the most luxurious easychair adorned with a tidy in the house of the order-loving woman. — Fulton (J/. K) Time*.