The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1875-04-29

his india rubber air tight suit and IN
! hated the air chambers; in his air tight
sack he placed food for three days, com
pass. a bulls eye lantern, some books,
(just to beguile the time on the water)
some signal rockets, and United
States flag. II his inside pocket he
placed mail which the passengers mad
given him to post, strapped his bo"le
/ knife and ak to his side, and grasplng
his paddle, was lowered into the water,
amid the cheers of the passengers, az
half-pase nine o'clock p. ~. LII was
wild. dark night He was close 70 the
| Fasfnet Rock. with Cape Clear three
miles from him, and Baltimore, toward
which he intended to make, was ID a
direct line, seven miles away lie lay
on his back padding vigorously, and
soon the lights of the vessel were lost IN
the night. In quarter OF an houf
more his spirit almost qualed, when
tossed high on the crest Of a wave ne
could no longer see the coast line OF any
| lights. The wind blew, tbs rail- poured
down and the tide set dead against him.
He was drifting out to sea, and to add
to the awful loneliness OF has situation
and to increase the dreadful peril, the
gale increased in violence. That night
for many hours.n mail boat crossed the
Irish Channel, and great obstruction was
done to the coast And through these
awful hours Of darkness this man was
tossing about at the mercy of the waves,
some fifteen miles from land. The wind
was so violent that he had to give over
padding and with one hand shade his
face (the only part of h1s body exposeD
from the cutting blast. Once his pad
die was wrenched away by heavy sea,
| but it fortunately came into his hand
again. For several seconds wave
would completely submerge HIM, then
he would shoot on to the crest and take
breath before he again was hurled down
a sloping mass of water, which seemed
100 feet to the bottom. AS a result OF
this tossing he became seasick, thing
which never before happened to him.
His indomitable spirit, however, con-
quered everything, and about O'Clock
the wind began to blow directly on shore.
His paddle was piled vigorously, and at
3 o'clock on Wednesday morning he
| perceived he was near breakers, and the
rock-bound coast of Skibberean loomed
up before him.
His danger now was not less than it
was during the height of the gale, for
as q wave would raise him almost on q
level with the cliff tops, he could dis
Germ nothing but threatening wall of
rock. He made his way along PARALLEL
to the coast, and fortunately lighted
upon almost the only safe landing place
for miles around. He saw an opening
in the cliffs and propelled himself eau
tiously toward it. While examining the
entrance sea struck him, sending him
on; another and another followed in
| quick succession and in an almost sense
less state he was hurled high and dry
upon the beach. It was then 4 o'clock
in the morning, and he had been nearly
| seven hours on the water, traversing a
distance of thirty miles. The apparatus
had behaved admirably, and having di-
vested himself Of it he stood quite dry
in his native uniform, which he wore
beneath That having been done, he
let off one Of his signal rockets without
effect 1t showed him, however, mar
row path in the rocks. Up this he
clambered and got onto mountain road
which brought him to the coastguard
station. He was Hospitality received,
and discovered that the place he had
landed at was Trefaska Blight, some
miles east and south of Baltimore. Dur
ing the morning he reached Skibberean
and posted the letters intrtsted to him
and arrived in Cork on Wednesday
night, Oct 81, where he was the hero
of the hour. The more the populace
heard of the feat the greater was their
wonderment, as it was deemed impossi-
BILE for man to pass unframed through
such an experience.
The Captain remained among his
newly-rnade friends at Cork for a while,
displaying the value of his life-saving
dress, and then iourneyed to Dublin,
where on the 18th of November, he
made another trial for the qualification
of the people of that CITY and vicinity.
A Dublin paper of the 18th says: 1.-THE
exhibition was 10 less successful as a
test of the perfect efficiency of the life
saving apparatus than gratifying as an
ovation on the part of the populace to
the gallant Captain. It had been pub