TOO SLIPPERY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 1, 7 January 1893, Page 23

TOO SLIPPERY.

Sea captains have many adventures, and the stories of their wonderful escape-* seldom lose by repetition. Many years ago pirates cruised up and dow*n the English Channel, to the great peril of the merchantmen. The story is told of a Captain Davis, who was noted foi his quick wit as well as for his skill in navigation, that he was returning from Ireland with a cargo consisting mainly «»f butter.

He had not been out very long when a pirate was seen coming down upon him. In vain all sails were spread, every moment brought the pirate nearer. The men were at their wits’ end, but the captain knew a trick or two. He ordered his men to take off their boots and stockings, and directed that a score of butter barrels be brought on deck. In a few minutes the barrels had been knocked to pieces, and the butter was thickly spread all over the deck and outside the ship. Not a rope nor a spar that was not slippery. Even without their boots and stockings the sailors could scarcely keep on their legs. On came the pirate, not dreaming how smoothly he was to be received. Captain Davis assumed an air of submission, and allowed the enemy to come alongside quietly. But lo ! when they jumped over, fully armed, with pistol in one hand and sword in the other, they slipped about and tumbled over each other on the buttered deck like so many rats.

One fellow shot head foremost down into the cabin, where he was immediately set upon by the boy ; another slid across the deck, and shot out i .to the sea by an opposite port-hole. Not one of them could stand on his feet, and as pirates are generally superstitious, an idea seized them that the ship was possessed of the devil. They hurried back into their own vessel, east loose, and Captain Davis got safely into port at the expense of a few pounds of butter.