Judge, 1909-02-13 · page 9 of 20
Judge — February 13, 1909 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a tall-tale comic strip featuring an exaggerated seafaring yarn. Captain Fibb and his companion Mizzen Mike are shipwrecked with no food or water. A pigeon lands on their raft; Fibb ties a farewell message to it. The bird encounters a giant dodo bird carrying a basket of gourmet food (champagne, roast duck, plum pudding), which somehow reaches the starving men. Later, a massive flying fish appears—but it's actually an airship from a life-saving station. The punchline reveals the pigeon was a "scout and guide" for maritime rescue operations. The humor relies on escalating absurdity: improbable animal encounters, impossible scale, and the fake-serious delivery typical of sailor's tall tales. The final panel's reveal (the flying fish is an airship) mocks both the implausibility of the preceding narrative and, likely, contemporary interest in early aviation and mechanical rescue technology. It's gentle nonsense humor rather than political satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Paneer THE YARNS OF CAPTAIN FIBB. ver fergit the time me and Mizzen Mike wuz shipwrecked in lati- e degrees and longitude twenty-three degrees. Fer two wee! we tloated on a raft with nothin’ to eat and drink, and we wuz jist about ready to give up the ghost when a stray pigeon lights on the raft.— 3 2. ——1 takes out a piece o’ paper and a pencil, and I has jist strength enough left to write a farewell message so that folks ‘d know how us _ ished on the deep, and I ties it "round the bird’s neck. Well, boys, that bird flies right off the same way it came and disappears, so we lays ourselves down to kick the bucket. — Well, scrape me barnacles, if that pi tle while with a monster dodo bird which wuz carryin’ a thumpin" big bas- ket, —— 5, somethin’ schooner! Hope wuz again beginnin’ to leave us when, by-and-by we sees rrible comin’ in the distance. It wuz a flyin’ fish as big asa ‘There it came right fer us, and say ! we wuz scared stiff. — 4 and shiver me toplights, if that basket wuzn't full 0° the choicest xrud, fit fera king! Bottle o' champagne, roast duck, plum puddin’, and all! Well, me hearties, we fell to fer the feed of our lives, and when we looks ‘round to thank them birds they wuz gone. 6. — Bust me bulkhead, when that thing gits closer we sees that it airship from the life-savin’ station, and the man takes us aboard and explains that the pigeon wuz a scout and guide fer the rescue of shipwrecked mariners !" comicbooks.com