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SS PS Et) ia oe A asc¢ Imishes Captain Kills a Man-Eating Shark and All Hands Toil Incessantly at the Pumps to Keep the Craft Afloat SYCHOMETRISTS' might well maintain that the old hull of the schooner Casco. which Robert Louis Stevenson chartered to cruise the South seas 30 years ago is permeated with the writer’s personality. A “new chapter in the record of sea thrills and adventure which surround the craft was completed recently when the Casco came into San Francisco with all hands, in- cluding the bride of the captain, manning the pumps to keep the water- flush hull from sinking. During the last 44 days of a 65-day voyage from Suva, Capt. Percy E. Troup and his crew of five, including the cook, never left the pumps for a moment. The vessel was making water so fast that an hour without. the pumps might have resulted in the sinking of the old craft. The story of the most recent cruise of the Casco bears many of the “ear- marks’ of the blithesome, debonair spirit and vivid imagery of the noted writer who maintained open house and open purse at Vailima. Captain Troup married Miss Flora Goellner of Tacoma, Wash., last Fourth of July. Five days later, he and his bride went aboard the Casco at Astoria, Oreg. They were bound on a trading trip to the same port of the South seas where Stevenson found — inspiration. Suva was but a week away when all hands turned to to catcha few fish. Mrs. Troup became entangled in her line when a 9-foot, man-eating shark seized her bait and yanked her overboard. HERE was a wild whoop from : Captain Troup who was standing near the galley. He seized a knife and was overboard with a bound. Swimming desperately, he made for the white, dis- traught face of his wife who was mak- ing valiant efforts to free herself from the entangling line. One moment she was above the surface of the water and the next moment she was beneath it. Troup severed the line that bound. her to the threshing shark which had itself become enmeshed. Then he dispatched the struggling monster a la mode de South seas, which is just like taking the works out of a dollar alarm clock. The “case” of the fish was pulled aboard the Casco. Twenty of the teeth were removed, cured and, later, at Suva, a jeweler mounted them into a_ necklace which the bride wears. On. the return voyage to San Fran- cisco, two weeks elapsed before the vessel’s seams began to open. Day and night two hands stood at the pumps. Then a terrific gale hit the frail craft. Canvas was carried away—spars began to break—sails had to be handled many times—the pumps stood idle—the water rose. In this emergency, Mrs. Troup per- suaded the cook to help her while the crew “minded ship.” For 12 hours the two pumped away while the gale raged through the rigging. When a pilot boarded the schooner off the San Francisco heads all hands were ex- hausted, but, singularly, when the craft made the harbor, the seams closed up and it was no longer necessary to pump. The Casco has had a_ checkered career. After Stevenson surrendered his charter, the vessel went north and became a sealer. Smuggling operations were rumored in connection with the schooner. Later the Canadian govern- ment confiscated the vessel for poaching seals and the Casco took her turn at bending “twigs in the way they should grow” while in use as a training ship for the Canadian boy scouts of the sea. The vessel was subsequently sold at auction and she is now owned by H. O. Wicks of Seattle. Recent reports state that she is again to make a voyage to the South seas, but if Captain Troup commands he will cruise alone. Mrs. Troup says she has had quite enough of the Stevenson ship. AS THE AUTHOR SAYS “IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IT, LOOK AT THE NECKLACE 136 AROUND THE GIRL’S: NECK”