The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1872-12-13

Paul ElsOn, the Heroic Sailor.

An exchange furnishes vivid account of
a man whose noble heroism and almost su-
perhuman efforts in behalf of shipwreck-
ed crew, in the Indian Ocean, deserve COM
mcmoration in most enduring marble.
Paul Elson was the name of this heroic soul
while on earth, for his body succumbed to
the fatigue and exposure incident to the
earnest discharge of duties undertaken in
behalf of fellow-sutferers. The account,
briefly given, is as follows:
On the goth of last July the ship Rothe-
say, which but three days before had cast
off from the Calcutta tug, was caught in a
cyclone. On the 30th she lay wreck at
the mercy of the waves. Then the pilot,
Paul Elson, gathered together few volun.
teers and constructed and rugged raft
Thirteen of the crew got on her; the rest,
as is usual on such occasions-and there
fore the heroism of this one man stands out
all the grander-were frantic with terror,
praying, cursing, yelling, drinking. Elson
was the last to leave the ship, the captain
having been disabled by an accident. Leap
ing over, he cut the hawser that held the
raft to the Rothesay, and took upon him
self the command. We shall see how he full
filled its responsibilities. All that day and
all that night, we are told, the seas broke
heavily over the raft; 1--WE were up to our
necks in water,' says the man who recited
the story, "for she floated low" All the
night, nevertheless, Elson, who appears to
have been powerful swimmer, swan
round and round the raft, lashing her to-
gether and making her stronger, as best he
could. Now and again would the furious
waves wash over the taft, and ever and
anon a,victim went away into space and
eternity along with them. Nevertheless,
this brave Elson, whose heart and strength
both appear to have been giantlike, would
be off the raft with dash, and would strike
out, and at times bring poor creature back.
Away went a man, and Paul Elson would
follow. But at last it became necessary to
construct smaller raft, so that the weight
might be divided to relieve the other. This
Paul Elson built almost single-handed.
The larger raft floated away; the pilot and
three other men took to the smaller. And
here we may simply record the fact that
this separated Elson from his servant, a ma
tive boy, whom we are assured Elson tend
ed with the care of mother, and never
once lost sight of in the midst of all his
fearful toll and anxiety. HE kept near
him he tended him as mother would her
child; he gave him the last supply of drink
able water"
The Rothesay had sunk on the Goth of
July, and this was the I'd of August. To
follow out the account given in the Lon
don Daily Telegraph: 1.-THE raft was drift
ing under raging tropical sun; for three
days there had been no food, no water ;
worse than this, the frail support itself be-
gan to break up, and swimming about in
heavy surf, Paul Elson became much ex-
hausted. The end, of course, could not
now he far off. First one of the men was
washed away, and then another, until FL
son himself and the Scotchman who tells
the story were the sole survivors. Pilot
said $50 the narrative runs-'we must
fight it through = 20, Fraser answer
ed he, I can't hold out any longer *
-* Then heavy sea broke upon us, and
knocked him off. l found it impossible to
hang on, and was forced to let him CO.
And so the story ends. The body of Pilot
Elson, worn out by his incessant labors,
floats away into the great deep, there to lie
till the sea shall give up its dead"