The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-02-11
are Won there p

are you there?"
He answered me IN a faint, weary tone
! eyes Help me Do help me Bring
men and bring lantern; the ship has sprung
! leak!"
hesitated, he added, in more eager tone,
snake haste l will try and hold 1t TIL you
/ come back"
. + wanted to hear no more, but hurried on
/ deck as soon as possible, and returned with
| a lantern and three men. / leaped down be-
side the boy and could scarcely believe the
evidence of my own senses. Three of the
tinbers were completely worm-eaten to the
very heart, and one of the outer planks had
been broken, and would burst in any moment
I the boy might leave it,whose feet were brac-
ed against the plank before him. Half-a-
| dozen little jets Of water were streaming in
about him, aud he was wet to the skin. |
saw the plank must burst the moment the
strain was removed from it, so made my
men brace themselves against 1t before lift
ed him up. Other men were called down
I with blanks, with spikes, and AIDES, and, with
much care and trouble, we finally succeeded
| in stopping the leak and averting the dan
ger The plank which had been stove i'll
was six feet long by eight inches wide, and
would let in a stream Of water Of that capac-
| ity. 1t would have been beyond our reach
! long before we could have discovered it, and
would have sunk us in very short time. l
! knew it must be where the iceberg struck
! us.
| Jack Withers was taken to the cabin, and
there he managed to tell his story. Shortly
after put him in the hold, he crawled for
ward, and when he became used to the am
ghmmer that came through the headlights,
he looked about for snug place in which
| to lie, for his limbs were very sore. He went
| to sleep, and when he woke he heard a faint
sound like water streaming through small
hole He went to the open place in the car
! 90 and looked down, and was sure he saw a
small jet of water springing up through the
ships bottom. He leaped down, and, in a
few moments, found that the timbers had
given wholly away and that the stream was
increasing in size. He placed his hand up
on the plank, and found it broken, and dis
covered that the pressure Of the water with
out was forcing it inward. He had sense to
see that if it gained an inch more it must all
90, and the ship be lost, and perhaps all hands
perish. And he saw, too, that if he could
keep the broken plank in its place he might
stop the incoming food. So he sat himself
upon it, and braced his feet against the cask,
and then called for help. But he was too far
away-so low down, with such mass Of
cargo about him, that his voice scarcely
reached other ears than his own. Some OF
the men heard him, but thought he was talk
ing to himself, and there he sat, with his feet
braced, for four and twenty dreary hours,
with the water spirting all over him, drench-
ing him to the very skin He had several
times thought ofgoing to the hatchway and
calling for help, but he knew that the broken
plank would be forced in if he left it, for he
could feel it heave beneath him. His limbs
were racked with pain, but he would not
give up. | asked him if he should not have
! given up if had not come to him as did.
He answered that he could not have done it
while he had life in him. He said he thought
not of himself he was ready to die; but he
would save the rest if he could--and he had
saved us, surely saved us all, from a watery
grave.
The boy lay sick almost unto death but ]
( II ursed him with my own hands-nUrsed him
all through his delrium and when his rea-
son returned, and he could sit up and talk,
I bowed myself before him and humbly asked
his pardon for all the wrong had done him.
lie GllTGW Ills dTIlS dTOuilu my HUN, anu IOlu
me if | would be good to him, he would new
er give me cause Of offense and added, as
he sat up again, Il am not coward / could
not he dog"
/ never forgot those words, and from that
hour have never struck blow on board
my ship. l make my men feel that they are
men, that | so regard them, and that | wish
to make them comfortable and happy as pos
sible and | have not failed to gain their re-
spect and confidence give no undue Ii
cense; but make my crews feel that they
have friend and superior in the same per
son. For nine years have sailed in thret
different SHIPS, with the same crew. a maj
could not be hired to leave Inc save for al
officers berth And Jack Withers remained
with me thirteen years. lie was my cabir
boy one of my fore-mast hands; my seconC
mate and the last time he sailed with me
he refused the command of bark, be
cause he would not be separated from me
But he is ca plain now, and one Of the beS
the country ever afforded. Such, gentleman
is my experience III government and disci
pline on pbolrd.-ReU. S. ~ Ho8hS
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