Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-12-27
rag From the LONDON scoiety,l az:srs 10.
AN eRENtSEISEs~EsOON STORY.

StS1mer. IUeeN from IouUOE 70 -. 4 1T
voyage is. not q very long enc +; but we
were several daysoat sea, and during thai
time I sstruek up pretty much of an &C
quai1t&nce, win the second engineer of the
ships / have always Rad o taste, rather
imaginative than scientific for watching
the working Of powerful machinery, the
eVenin 20 werestoo. cold to- allow of my re-
manning long on deck; and | was often
glad to exchange for q time the saloon stove
for the bright glow Of the boiler furnaces,
and the companys Of, the passengers for q
chat in the engine-room with my friend the
engineer. Ten o'clock in the evening when
it was his wateh, generally found me seated
by his side on the platform that ran around
the tops of the cylinders, whence he could
hear in moment any W0rd passed from the
deck, lad immediate access TO the handles
of the engines, could see the fre-doors and
stokeholessHrhth q glass gauges in front Of
the boilers : and even whilst chatting to me
he could be constantly alive to the smallest
escape of steam, or the least jarring or
chipping sound which4old tojhis practised
eyes e'Ts'eaFs that something about the
machinery required fabrication or adjust
There was nothing very remarkable about
my acquaintance, Angove: ne was slIoply
an honesty ightforward, Intelligent, self
educated mechanic : ppe,, in short Of q
class very numerous among our steamboat
engineers: He was abou: forty years of
age, and had spent nearly half that time at
sea, ia, many. SERVICES AMI in all parts OF
the world.,S He had been in action on board
Of Brazilian steam ;sloop; had nearly
died from The. intense heat in the engine
room Of Pepinsular and Oriental boat in
the Rcd Sea-; he'd been wrecked in West
India mail steamer, and afterwards dis
charged from the service for O smuggling
transaction, with which he vowed that be
himself had nothing TO do; was at the time
the late warsbroke GU serving on Russian
war steamer, (which Of course he left as
soon rs possible; had served on board q
river boat on the Mississippi, and another
on the aHoeghly; and had seen many a
strange event in these and other services,
from the plain matter of fact point of view
natural to his. temperament and education.
One evening we were slipping along fast
under.steam and canvas, with the wind and
sea on4he beam :. and the ship, though not
pitching much; was rolling q good deal /
came shivering off the deck, where 1 had
been smoking cigar in the moonlight, and
seated myself in my accustomed place on the
engine5room platform, enjoying the warm
glow ffom the.furHaces, Angove had just
lit cigar which,I gave him, when slight
escape of steam from one of the valve stufing
boxes arrested his attention. The platform
on which we had orr seat was On level with
the tops Of the cylinders, with railing near
ly breast-high between it and the engines
and to get in the stnHing box in question it
was necessary, In order to avoid being struck
by the bars of the, parallel motion, TO wait
until theIengine took her down stroke, and
then vault in over the rail to the top of the
cylinder cover, before she came up again.
Taking spanner to screw down the gland,
AngoVe waited the proper moment, and
vaulted over the rail but at that instant the
ship took a. heavier roll than ordinary, his
foot slipped on the greasy, sloping surface
of the'false cover, and he had the narrow
est escape possible from being precipitated
headlong among the working parts of the
machinery. He saved himself just in time
by catching hold Of the cylinder cross head !;
but this cross-head worked up tc within
half an inch of one, of the deck beams,
and before ne oould withdraw his hand the
two were nearly close together; the small
est conceivable space Of time longer, and
mis- hand would have been crushed between
them such close work was it, indeed, that
he actually felt the squeeze, and the skin
was red with the pressure. -,4,re.e ,..t.
| know | was terribly frightened, and
started up pale and 7horror,struck;?s but
Angove finished his work coolIy, vaulted
out again over the rail, and seated himself
at my side, little pale, but perfectly calm
and self-posS5ssed, and smoked away at his
cigar astif nothing had happened.
My dear feAow,' / cried, sslwhat mar
row escape /! sthough HIT wasaal over with
you" sgs rssk Pc a.
." Yes, indeed" he said, dit was close
work; but, tAapk God, it is all right! A
very small fraction of d second longer -
looking at his hand" and my power OF
using hammer and ehiseh wouldn't have
been of muca ,aeoount. " siiEr - g-4
We sat foro SINE minutes without speak
ing-both, 5neFoubt, s-meditating on what
had occurred--ana then, full Of the sub
jeet, l said:s t-e <{is7 49,. .-
1T must be very dangerous work, going
about the engines in, really bad weather !? 2
Yes, it u.s." he said; i.' especially in
some engine-Eeoms nearly as bad, think,
as it is fSrthe. sailorsto go aloft. But
have always been very Fortunate acf -sr
"Did yoSneTer meet With an accident -
"No,'' he replied; ssbat / was very near
one once "a worse 'oae, perhaps than even
this would have .been--snd yet il was not
exactly an accident, either. ., . 81 81
"What was il, then ~ / asked. (
"WelL" he said, sit is q subject on
which don't much like TO speak--and, in
deed, have never told the whole story TO
anyone :. but ]. think sufficiently long
time has now elapsed, and ] may as well
give it TO you, since you are pleased to say
you like hearing ny ittlo adventures.
1t was many years ago, when the Cali
fornia geld diggings were attracting every
oody's attention, that went out as third
engineer of steamer from Panama to San
Francisco. 1 liked the captain very much,
and | had known him By sight before,
though ne didn't kaow me; for, short
time previously, he had several times come
on board ship to which then belonged,
at New York, TO see the captain, who was
friend Of his. Oace or twice he had brought
of his vile and little .daug hter with him
such sweet, iadg~hke young woman, and
sncn dear little grill recollect taking
Them down once and showing the engines
ana the lady appeared so fond of her hus-
osHaI wondered how he could leave